A Mission to Strengthen Culture and Identity — Adivasi Food Revival
My name is Aruna Tirkey. I am from the Oraon Indigenous community in Jharkhand— the land of forest— located in eastern India, where more than 25% of the population are Adivasis (Indigenous) Peoples, and forest covers around 29% of the land. Residents in Jharkhand substantially depend on natural resources amongst 10,000 forest fringe villages. According to an ethno botanic study, the Adivasi knowledge systems are acquainted with more than 9,000 wild green species.
I am fortunate enough to have parents who were great connoisseurs of local Adivasi food. Coming from a family that consumed Indigenous food on a regular basis, I was thus exposed to cultural practices associated with the food in my daily life. I am also a strong believer in “we are what we eat.” That’s why I always tell people that we must stick to our roots and to bear in mind that food is part of them.
Adivasi food of Jharkhand is extremely rich in nutrition and medicinal properties. However, with the impacts of modernization, commercialization and fast-food trends, people changed their diet patterns and preferences, the local food systems are gradually weakened. Also, large scale extractive development in the Indigenous heartland depleted the natural resources and led to further dispossession and marginalization of the Indigenous communities pushing more people to face food insecurity.
With more than 15 years of experience working on the ground on: community health, women empowerment, natural resource management, livelihood development and forest rights, I consider the loss of local food systems as the loss of identity and culture.
And the loss of local production systems means less employment and increased migration— squarely results in alienation from local culture especially amongst youth.
That’s why in 2016, I started my mission— to bring traditional Adivasi food made with ingredients of wide seasonal diversities back to every Indigenous household dining table. I firmly believe that to revive the Adivasi food is to eat safe and healthy, it would also secure peoples’ livelihoods and income opportunities.
In the workshop, I introduced several dishes made with two basic but critical ingredients— black gram and finger millet. Both are with thousands of years of history.
Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It used to be the staple food of the Adivasi communities in Jharkhand. It’s easy to grow and contains rich nutrition, including vitamins, minerals, fiber and potassium.
Black gram (Vigna mungo) originated in South Asia, where it has been in cultivation from ancient times and
is one of the most highly prized pulses of India. It is very widely used in Indian cuisine.
Now let’s follow the steps to prepare some Adivasi dishes for your dining table!
Aruna Tirkey
Founder of Jharkhand Ajam Emba Slow Food Community
Owner/Chef of the first Indigenous Cuisine Restaurant in Jharkhand