Rich pahari delicacies vanishing from ‘modern kitchens’

Native foodgrains and rich ‘pahari’ cuisine have become a thing of the past now. 

Reason: The traditional crops have been pushed to the brink by the new-age cash crops of apple, fruits and vegetables in the state.

The traditional iron-rich chaulai (amaranth), ‘koda’ (hill jawar-bajra), ‘kawani’ ‘kaalan’ and lal chawal (rice), ‘kathu’ and phafra (buck wheat), kawani cheene (grains), kulth (pulse), bhangziri (seed) were once constituted as staple food of hill people in Himachal. 

The delicacies prepared from these local foodgrains such as ‘kadauli’ (koda), ‘chalauthi’ (amaranth), ‘sattoo’ (buck wheat), ‘bari’ and ‘ghegri’ (amaranth), that once used to be served to an expecting mother at the time of baby’s birth, have somehow vanished from the “modern kitchens” of the hill people. 

Worst, the Agricultural Department has no scheme to preserve the native foodgrain gene pool and seed banks to protect these iron-rich crops that have become crucial for “food security” in the hills in the view of climate change in the Himalayas. 

These “iron -rich and wholesome food crops” that have evolved in the Himalayan foothills and in the higher mountains have become a thing of the past. As a result, people of all age groups, mainly adolescent girls and women in general, are anaemic, mainly in the tribal belt and apple belt, as they tend to consume the chemically produced food items, reveals a recent survey by the department of community medicine, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, Shimla. 

Farmers in Chatriyana, Badu, Chaswal, Kharwasra, Garli, Dharwar have taken an initiative to preserve and protect the traditional foodgrains including koda, local turmeric, jimikand, which are rich in iron and calcium. 

But the department has no policy to preserve, protect and promote the traditional foodgrains in the state so far. As a result, these have disappeared from the fields, say Shiv Ram and Hem Chand, farmers of Chatroiyana in Dharampur in Mandi, who have been growing ‘koda’, turmeric and jimikand (yam). 

The members of Himachal Kisan Sabha have introduced ‘haldi’, ‘jimikand’ in the Dharwar panchyat in Dharampur on an experiment basis due to the monkey menace. These crops have roots and monkeys do not eat these, they said. 

They proposed NABARD to set up a “seed bank” of traditional foodgrain crops at Dharwar and other areas, so that farmers can get seeds. These crops are as good as dead, as cash crops including vegetables and fruits have swept them out of existence, they said. 

Amaranth, ‘chaulai’, which is one of the richest source of iron, its green leaves rich in calcium, used to be a staple of people in the Mandi-Kullu-Shimla apple belt. But the apple economy has swept the crop out of existence and it is now found in remotest pockets in Dodra-Kwar in Rohru and Chehta area in Chopal and in some parts of inner and outer Seraj valley. 

Amaranth is a rich source of iron, its green leaves used to be given to pregnant women as these are rich source of calcium, recalled a senior agricultural scientist. 

In tribal belt, too, buckwheat has been pushed out of existence by cash crops including peas, potatoes, vegetables and apple crops. 

“We have not seen people cultivating and eating buck wheat, which is now considered to be poor man’s meal,” said Ajey, a Lahaul resident. Similarly, buckwheat used to be the staple food of people in Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Malana. In Malana, it is cultivated sparingly as villagers have grown fascination for easy money-spinning hybrid cannabis crop and pulses. 

It is no mere coincidence that the disappearance of local cuisine from the diet chart of hill people has led to a corresponding increase in the incidence of anaemia among women in the state. 

Health Minister Vipin Parmar had said that the state government has launched “Poshan abhiyan” to address the problem of high rate of anaemia and stunted growth among children. 

It will take care of nutritional needs of people mainly women and children, he said. But experts said the state government needs a comprehensive strategy to protect traditional foodgrains by setting up seed banks. Farmers should be encouraged to cultivate the hill crops side by side with cash crops that will ensure local food security and help protect local crops and preserve the soil fertility as well. It should be included in the natural farming policy, they said.