Food

Hunger: "We want rice, we don't want cash!"

This haiku encapsulates my impression of the debate titled 'Cash or kind transfer? The regional, national and global dimensions of revamping the Public Distribution System' facilitated by Augustin Brutus, a scholar activist (Intercultural Network for Development and Peace) and post-doctoral scholar at IFP, Nithya Joseph, at the Pondicherry workshop.  The participants included Sudha Sundaraman, of the AIDWA (All Democratic Women's Association) and members of the local women's group SAMAM (Samam Makalir Suyasarbu Iyakkam).

Rice, Women and Local Economy: Rethinking Covid-19 Consequences

The images are from Kokrajhar Town bi- weekly market. Every Thursday and Sunday people living in and around the District Headquarter of Kokrajhar in the BTC (Bodo Territorial Council) area visit the main market when the bi-weekly bazaar takes place. The bazaar is a huge affair where assorted items are sold and bought, and contribute to the local economy. From direct producers-to-middlemen-to-whole salers of innumerable products partake in the commercial exchanges here. There are dedicated lanes and by-lanes within the market area for different items sold.

Learning While Walking in the Forest: Where the Village Practices Shifting Cultivation

Every day, the youth of Huay Hin Lad Nai community go into the forest to find food. The forest serves as the local supermarket. Accompanying them into the forest today are students from Chiang Mai University, who are part of school's Ethnic Studies and Development program. Both the students and the youth group woke up early at 5:00 a.m to go and learn in the forest together. The local youth shared stories about shifting cultivation, properties of variety of vegetables and herbs, and their way of living with the forest and nature.

A Lemon for €1

Lemon is a fruit and a small shrub that grows 5 to 10 meters high. It has many benefits, culinary and therapeutic. I like to squeeze a lemon daily when I take tea. On my visit to Leiden, The Netherlands, I bought a lemon at a Saturday Market – one lemon for one Euro - in July 2019.

“A lemon for one Euro” -  It was a high price but it made me think about the two different worlds – one in the south, Mali, where I live and a developing region, and the other in the north- the developed region.

Inter-Community Dialogue Around Rice: From Kokrajhar Workshop

The Kokrajhar workshop on rice revealed how urbanization and ‘modern’ non-agricultural lifestyle is putting pressure on the practice of rice cultivation. The space for transmitting indigenous knowledge system is shrinking and rice as a site of knowledge and meaning is being challenged, though it continues to be the main staple in the region. With growing number of younger people migrating to urban areas looking for job opportunities and the gradual spread of urbanization process, the biggest challenge is how to sustain productivitity.

Rice Play Song (1)

This is a play song from Kokrajar, Assam, India. Elders enact this with the children. The rough translation of the song is:

Rice cook … cook… cook…

Curry cook … cook… cook

Will you eat … will you eat … will you eat?

Keep for dinner also okay?

 

Lets go to plant rice now

Let’s make alli now

Let’s break alli

Let’s plant plant

 

Now let’s go to catch crabs from the holes

No way this side…no way that side… what about this side jogo…jogo…jogo!

Identity of Food and the Vendor

Bruno to vendor: Are you a Moor?

Vendor: “I am a Pulaar (ethnic group from Senegal) sir, and I am from Lao Air. You can't read? It's nevertheless well written on my beautiful stove! - - aere lao cité baratal fouta toro.  ... I know this way of preparing meat better than the Moors. It is a job, like any other, that does not belong to any ethnic group."

Disappearing Rice Varieties

The rice in the photo is known as "Namar catsa" or " Caca". It looks strange from its name to its colour. According to the farmers, the rice used to be eaten by the Kings and the senior citizens because it is nutritious. The interviewee shared, "it made up complete balanced nutrition for the sick or weak. But now most of our people don't have much knowledge concerning with that kind of paddy ( including me). Today that kind of rice is not grown widely".

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