PANAJI
Food has a culture, a history. Our ancestors had made food choices depending upon the region where they dwelled and the weather conditions as well as what was grown prominently in that area. We still carry forward most of these food items in our day-to-day meals. Looking at our Indian food culture and traditional food items, how food habits change over time, and how new foods get included in the daily diet, is an interesting research topic. Enlightened with her knowledge of food, Dr Mohsin Mukadam will be speaking on 'Food culture in ancient India' on October 29 at 4.30 pm at Multipurpose Hall, Sanskruti Bhavan, Patto Panaji.
Dr Mukadam who has a PhD in 'Changes in the food culture during the British era' and is often invited to speak on this topic, as well as others related to food culture.
While speaking to The Goan, Dr Mukadam explained how changes happened in our food culture over time. She explains, "As per our ancient food science, our meals should include sweet, sour, salty, spicy, bitter and astringent tastes. All these various types of foods have different tastes and textures. It was a ritual to draw rangoli around the food thali, so that the one who sits to eat, will usher into a fresh and happy mood. The mention of our daily ingredients like daal, rice, ladoo, kheer etc goes back to 2000 years. There is continuity in this food type.”
She adds, “Over time, new ingredients were added to our food, like cashews, papaya, pineapple, potato, chili, tomato etc and we assimilated them in our diet. Some habits and foods were brought in by the British, Portuguese, Mughals etc, and as we included them in our daily food, they became a part of it, at times, changing our own food habits. It is during the last 25 years that our food habits have changed speedily.”
“Every family has a food history. Some food items are cooked on particular occasions and in a specific manner. There are some stories behind these food items too. This is a part of social history. People should write it down. We can begin with a small thing - like old utensils. In olden times, big utensils were in use as families were big. Now these big utensils are not used anymore, people throw them away, but before disposing of them, we must photograph them, make a note about them, about who gifted them to whom and why. Mention why this particular utensil was used. It is important,” feels Dr Mukadam.
