Communities across India have found innovative ways to use seasonal produce that grows locally. They use leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds and roots to cook tasty and delectable recipes that are both nutritious and healthy. First Food brings to you a collection of nearly 50 F recipes that use local produce. IR S The ingredients to cook these T F O might be available only for a O D short time, but their taste tends C U to linger for long. You would L T U surely wait for the next season R E to savour them again. O F T A S FIRST FOOD T E CULTURE OF TASTE Down To Earth Down To Earth www.downtoearth.org.in Foodbook-cover.indd All Pages 08/12/16 4:48 PM FIRST FOOD CULTURE OF TASTE Down To Earth 03-09 Ttile+contents.indd 3 08/12/16 4:42 PM Editorial direction: Sunita Narain Concept and research: Vibha Varshney Editing: Aditya Misra, Priya Talwar and Richard Mahapatra Design: Ajit Bajaj and Ritika Bohra Cover image: Vikas Choudhary Images: Vikas Choudhary or otherwise specified Culinary support: Sapan Dey, Moti Ram, Samar Bahadur Yadav and colleagues at CSE’s canteen Food styling: Vikas Choudhary and Vibha Varshney Production: Rakesh Shrivastava and Gundhar Das Acknowledgements: Jagdeep Gupta, Chaitanya Chandan, Abhishek Vaishnav, S S Jeevan Archana Yadav, Snighda Das, Jemima Rohekar, Rajit Sengupta, and Srilakshmi Nambiar We are grateful to MISEREOR for their support for this publication Down To Earth www.downtoearth.org.in © 2017 Centre for Science and Environment ISBN: 978-81-86906-99-6 Price: R950 Material from this publication can be used, but with acknowledgement. Published by Centre for Science and Environment 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area New Delhi 110 062 Phones: 91-11-29955124, 29955125 Fax: 91-11-29955879 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.cseindia.org Printed at M P Printers (Unit of DB Corp Ltd), Noida 03-09 Ttile+contents.indd 4 21/12/16 3:56 PM Seeds, stems, roots, leaves and flowers. This book is not about gardening. It is not even about food. It is about knowledge—the knowledge of nature that is the essence of food that delights our palates and nourishes our bodies. This is the critical food-nutrition- nature-culture connection. We brought you this connection in First Food: A Taste of India’s Biodiversity in 2013. We said then that food is about biodiversity. We need to know how food diversity is linked to diversity in the biological world. We need to know this so that we value this biodiversity that grows in the wild, in the farms, in the forests and in the lakes and the oceans. Each region of India, and the world, is diverse in its food habits. Each region has its own recipes; it cooks with different ingredients and, it eats differently. If biodiversity disappears we will lose the food wealth on our plates. Food will become impersonal. It will become a sterile package designed for universal size and taste. This is what is happening today as we eat packaged food from plastic boxes. Conservation of this biodiversity, indeed its celebration, requires us to cultivate it on our plates. Otherwise, not only will our food become sterile, but we will also lose nature and the knowledge that links it to food and nutrition. First Food: Culture of Taste brings you many more recipes that make this food- nutrition-nature connection. Foreword We are even more certain today that India has the opportunity to be different in its food journey. We do not have to first eat badly and then rediscover healthy and medicinal food that is not filled with toxins. We have a living tradition of healthy food still eaten in our homes. We still cherish diverse cuisines and we still crave for our unique smells and tastes. But knowledge of this diversity is disappearing. It is getting lost because we are losing the holders of that knowledge—our grandmothers and mothers who managed our food and brought to it cuisines that were local and nutritious. It is also getting lost because we do not value their knowledge. Our food is getting “multinationalised”, industrialised and “chemicalised”. It is the same anywhere and everywhere. Strangely, this McDonaldisation of food has been peddled as a sign of modernity and prosperity. It has become aspirational. This is not accidental or incidental. The food industry has a game plan, of which we are unwitting participants. Read the excellent account of the food transition in the US, captured in the book, Salt, Sugar and Fat, by New York-based writer Michael Moss. The plot is revealed. As Moss explains, it was in the mid to late fifties when food giants decided that the key word for them to change people’s eating habits was “convenience”. Their obstacle to the “social transmutation was the army of school teachers and federal outreach workers who insisted on promoting home-cooked meals”. This was a time in the US when the state agriculture departments had 03-09 Ttile+contents.indd 5 08/12/16 4:42 PM extension services to teach homemakers the ins and outs of gardening, canning and meal planning with nutrition in mind. Home economics was taught in colleges. This was also a time, when feminist movements were on the rise. Much like tobacco companies, food companies also found this a great platform—women who returned home after a grueling day at work only to find that they had to cook and care for husbands and children. Both industries capitalised on this by promoting “liberation” of smoking and not cooking. This was also the time when television was making inroads into homes. Evenings were too precious to “waste” on cooking and cleaning. The food industry, explains Moss, made two cunning manoeuvres to draw women into their fold. One, they created their own army of home economics teachers. Bright and fashionable, these women would set up their own cooking contests. By 1957, US multinational General Foods had 60 of these home economists on its payroll. These women worked with the company and promoted its products, pushing the idea of convenience. Two, to compete with home-cooking promoted at the time by a woman called Betty Dickson, who worked with the American Home Economics Association, the industry brought in its own substitute, Betty Crocker. This friendly but sophisticated food icon was created by the advertising department of Washburn Crosby, which later became General Mills, another US food giant. Betty Crocker never slept, says Moss. She became the face of the food mix, which were sold as grand time savers. The age of processed and convenience food had been ushered in, and it took over the American family life. This was not all. According to Moss’s research, food industry had another insidious plan. They needed to takeover and destroy the home economics profession. To do this, they funnelled funds—Moss says that in 1957 alone General Foods gave US $288,250 for grants and fellowships to the association of home economics. This partnership led to the gradual reshaping of the organisation so that it became pro- industry. Soon the profession died. In 1959, Time magazine did a long article on convenience foods and sold it as “modern living” which was all about “just heat and serve”. Food had been revolutionised. It was now processed and pre-cooked. Industry had changed our habits, even without our knowing it. It was subliminal. This “change” in our food habits has continued. Since the seventies, the food industry has introduced new habits. Again, by design. This happened in the US in the 1970s and beyond. It is happening in our world today, and we do not even know it. Our own instant snacks, often healthier and more nutritious, have vanished. More importantly, it has become fashionable not to eat home-cooked meals. We have never understood that the Indian diet (if I am allowed to generalise) has the hallmarks of the healthy Mediterranean diet. It too is based on eating seasonal, eating local produce and traditional preparations. We had balanced diets. But somewhere along the way, this science of food culture has been 6 | Culture of Taste 03-09 Ttile+contents.indd 6 08/12/16 4:42 PM lost. We cannot blame it all on the food marketers—they will do what they have to do. We have to blame it on our lack of self-pride or self-awareness about what we were doing in our farms, forests and kitchens. We are losing this knowledge because of sheer neglect. In a recent television programme, the anchor asked the young audience in the studio if they loved “junk food”. All yelled, “Yes.” Then he asked if they ate junk food because they were guided by celebrities who endorsed it. All yelled, “No.” This only tells me how subtle, indeed subliminal, the marketing drive that is changing our food habits is, and we do not even know it. These foods are rich in sugar, salt and fats, ingredients that are addictive. All these habits have been created. We are the products of the makers of designer food. It is no surprise then that this food is responsible for ill-health across the world. After all, industry is about profit, not health. We have allowed our takeover. Now we need to fight back to reclaim our food and our habits. The only way to do so is to rediscover food as pleasure and be thrilled, not just by its smells and tastes, but also by the knowledge it embodies. This is First Food. Betty Crocker, who captured stores with convenience foods, needs to be reinvented. This time, as someone who captures kitchens with our grandmother’s or mother’s recipes. We need to look for the seeds, stems, leaves and flowers that would make up our daily food. This might not be easy as the natural habitats of these plants are now covered with concrete. The most biodiverse regions of the country are under threat from industry. We need to create a demand for the biodiversity-rich foods that have served generations before us, and we need to protect the environment where these plants grow. This book, then, is about the rediscovery of knowledge that is not all lost. Many of the plants that make these recipes are still found in our backyards. Or can be grown and harvested for food. It is only when this biodiversity is lived that it will live. Yet many of the plants are difficult to source, many difficult to grow locally. This is a challenge. But First Food is certainly about treasuring this knowledge and creating new knowledge, which brings culinary art to our plates. The aim is to create cuisines that sustain nutrition, nature and livelihoods. It is only when we take control of our food once again that we will have good food. It is the connection of our lives—food-nutrition-nature—that will celebrate the joy of living. Sunita Narain Culture of Taste | 7 03-09 Ttile+contents.indd 7 08/12/16 4:42 PM CONTENTS 10 Leaves 54 Flowers 82 Fruits & 11 Green Forever 55 Petal Palate vegetables 14 Anti-age Herb: Thalkudi 58 Wonder Flower: 83 We Must Go Native Saag and Chutney Goolar ka Chokha 86 Hilly Roots: Sohphlang 18 Delightful Appearance: and Kebab Curry Peepal ki Bhaji 62 For Scorching Times: 90 Blink and You'll Miss 22 Saag for Monsoon: Poi Heti chya Besan It: Phalsa Sharbat Saag Dal 66 The Other Saffron: 94 Wholesome Plant: 26 Dosa for Body Ache: Parijaat Flower Bhishikanda Sweet Green Dosa and Rasam Kalakand 98 Shoots That Heal: 30 Not Like Other Leaves: 70 A Healer's Genie: Narale Chutney Phutka Pakauri and Dhawai Phool ki Dal 102 Street Food Paradise: Bread 74 The Eco Tree: Semal Baiga-Style Boiled 34 Super Leaves: Murunga Sabzi Ratalkanda and Indore- Elai Sambar and 78 Flowering Blossoms: Style Fried Garadu Leaf Bhaji Stir-fried Mocha 106 Citrusy Delight: Bengali 38 Barter Leaf: Basingu Jambura Makha ka Saag 110 Intoxicatingly Delicious: 42 The Pros of Drought: Kolaiya ki Sabzi Stir-fried Sarata Bhaji 114 Naturally Sweet: 46 Forest Fragrance: Stir- Shakarkand ka Halwa fried Kadisoppu and 118 A Tea For Summers: Uppusaru Khobarvel Tea 50 Stung by a Secret: Kanali ka Saag and Kafuli 03-09 Ttile+contents.indd 8 08/12/16 4:42 PM 150 Preservation 151 Preserving Food Naturally 154 Jam Session: Prickley Pear Jam 158 Trademark South Indian: 122 Seeds Karuvepillai Podi and 186 Business 123 Seeds of Health Thuvayal 187 Promoting 126 Rice for Kings: Chak-Hao 162 Spice from the Wild: Indigenous Produce Rice Kheer Farani Gutke 190 Makhana Frenzy 130 Cross-country Toor: Toor 166 Cure for the Blues: 194 Reviving Kokum Lilva na Ghugra Gundruk Jhol 198 Packed in Tradition 134 Powder Power: Jawas 170 A Layer of Mango: Chutney Ambosoda Pickle 202 Coconut Mantra 138 Bitter-sweet Methi: 174 Unmistakably Goan: Methi ki Launji Solkadhi and 206 About the authors Jackfruit with Teppal 207 Finding the 142 Garnishing Delight: Aloo ke Gutke 178 Vegetarian's Delight: ingredients Cucumber Vadi 208 About the plants 146 Green Soya Bean: Stuffed Bhatoora 182 Pickled Intact: Manga 214 Glossary and Sidu Arachukalaki 215 Index Culture of Taste | 9 03-09 Ttile+contents.indd 9 20/12/16 5:26 PM LEAVES 10 | Culture of Taste 10-53Leaves.indd 10 08/12/16 4:42 PM FIRST FOOD LEAVES GREEN FOREVER PUSHPESH PANT G reen leafy vegetables have been an integral Punjab. It is also not uncommon to pair palak with potatoes. part of the Indian diet for centuries. Non-vegetarians have long enjoyed delicacies such as saag Shaak—the generic term for greens—finds mention in vedic gosht and murg haryali, both prepared with spinach, mustard texts and is strongly recommended as a source of satvik (pure) leaves or a combination of both. Another popular green is nourishment in Ayurveda. And while the list of vegetables has methi (fenugreek). Its bitterness puts some people off, but from become limited in urban India today, the varieties of greens Punjab to Bihar, it is cooked with potatoes and peas in clotted consumed in villages across the country are mind-boggling. cream-based gravy. Dried fenugreek leaves, the aromatic Let us begin with Jammu and Kashmir. Haak, a variety of kasuri methi, are used in many recipes—vegetarian and spinach with a distinct flavour, is cooked using a minimalist non-vegetarian—to enhance their appeal. In addition, green technique. It is cooked in mustard oil, with a pinch of coriander leaves are used in western India to prepare kothmir asafoetida, salt, green chillies and dried ginger. Tempered ki bhaji and in Kashmir for the peerless dhaniwal korma. with red chillies, the watery soup is sheer bliss with steamed In Uttarakhand, palak is prepared as a dry accompani- rice. Karham (knol khol) is cooked similarly. Sochal, ment—tapakiya/tinariya—that is served in small quantities commonly known as mallow, is also a green that has many with rice and dal and vegetables like gadheri (yam) or kaddu loyal patrons. (pumpkin). Leaves of laai, a local variety of mustard, and In Punjab, sarson ka saag is extremely popular, and is chaulai (amaranth) are also popular in the hill state. People normally consumed with makki ki roti. Interestingly, sarson in remote villages, till a generation ago, used to supplement ka saag is a blend of three greens—mustard, spinach and their diet with green leaves of shishuna (Himalayan nettle) bathua (goosefoot/pigweed). To add a pleasant, pungent and linguda (a fern variety) collected from the forest. touch, radish too is blended. These vegetables are normally consumed by the poor. Till Bathua, once a common vegetable in north India, has a few years ago, it was common to use a variety of dried green become a rarity today. Its scarcity has added to the renewed leaves that were out of season. Not just methi and laai, but interest in this vegetable. Bathua is relished in raita and as an leaves of muli (radish) were dried for winter use. Another interestingly stuffing in paratha. Palak and sarson are cooked tasty way of using home-processed green leaves was to use differently in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Unlike in Punjab them in the form of badi (sun-dried dumplings prepared by (where it is puréed), it is prepared and served as a dry dish. mixing the greens with lentil paste). Paptola and naal badi are In Uttarakhand, palak ka kapha has a texture like the saag in prepared with paparh (arum) leaves and tender stems. Alas, Culture of Taste | 11 10-53Leaves.indd 11 08/12/16 4:42 PM