A slow food festival, titled “Terra Madre” was organised to showcase indigenous cuisine in the Nilgiris on Friday and Saturday.
Organised by the Keystone Foundation along with its sister organisations, the food festival, held at the Foundation campus in Kotagiri showcased delicious local cuisine made by people from indigenous communities from across the Nilgiris. From ‘avarai kolambu’ to ‘thenai ladoo’, traditional fish curry and little millet biriyani, those attending the festival were treated to a wide range of food during the two-day festival.
“Close to 300 people, including members of indigenous and local communities as well as people from the town partook in the festival,” said a statement from the Foundation.
Special guests at the event were Supriya Sahu, Principal Secretary-cum-Managing Director of The Tamil Nadu Small Tea Growers’ Industrial Cooperative Tea Factories’ Federation Limited in Coonoor, who was also the former District Collector of the Nilgiris, as well as Ramya Reddy - author of “Soul of the Nilgiris.”
At the festival, stalls were set up to showcase local foodgrains with which savouries were made for people to taste. Simultaneously, with all the surplus vegetables – a soup was prepared (globally known as disco soup) – a movement to inspire action against food waste, it said.
“At the festival, communities cooked, shared and cherished local traditional recipes. The festival provided the scope to discuss and inform people about the importance of eating locally grown food and its benefits,” the statement added.
A panel discussion with the participants was also organised during the event in which they discussed traditional food habits among members of the local communities. Panellists also discussed the cultural significance of the local agricultural practices, while also voicing their concern about the decline in traditional food habits among local communities.
