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| Jan 07, 2007 2:32 pm |
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re: re: re: re: re: Slow food movement |
Shalaka Paradkar
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Malini, what a great idea. Actually if we go back to our traditional eating patterns, there is a wonderful seasonality to the foods consumed. For instance, we ate til (sesame) sweets on Makar Sankrant that's coming up soon. Fortified with groundnuts and jaggery -- all the good stuff to keep one warm through winter. All of Maharashtra's coastal communities turn vegetarian during Shravan-- the sound ecological reason being it allows fish to spawn in those crucial monsoon months, and the waters don't get overfished.
In India, its still possible to eat seasonal foods, or even source them directly from the farmer. In Delhi, our office in Okhla had farms just across the road, and there would be hardly a couple of hours' interval from veggies coming out of the soil and into the pan.
Even in Mumbai, we used to have a variety of veggie vendors called Vasaiwalas, who used to bring fresh produce from thier own farms in Vasai, typically leafy greens and plantains.(However, these are probably not organically farmed, since the farmers have small holdings and use chemicals to maximise yields.)
The tricky part is eating seasonally in places like Dubai. Even if I want to be an ethical consumer I can't -- most of the good fruits and veggies are imported from other countries. Apart from fish and potatoes, nothing seems to be harvested here. The few small farms produce just enough to meet their own requirements.
I would love to help the environment by changing my diet, but I just don't know how! Private Reply to Shalaka Paradkar (new win) |
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