Bengaluru: While there is a considerable degree of excitement and concern among the public with regard to eating healthy and chemical-free food, indigenous food varieties remain untapped on a large scale. There are several reasons for this, such as inaccessibility, general apprehension and misinformation to name a few.
To change this, Greenpeace India’s Cooking Up Change – Rediscovering Our Forgotten Rice, is bringing a culinary experience of India’s rich rice heritage and its unique flavours by hosting a food pop-up along with a short demo cook-along. The event will be held on Sunday November 20 at 3.00 pm at RMZ Galleria, Yelahanka.
It celebrates dietary diversity and indigenous food to build community resilience and fight malnutrition. “We will be using some local, delicious, aromatic, sustainable and healthy rice varieties such as Njavara, Gandhakashala, Valiachennellu, Mullankaima and more,” stated the press release.
Climate change and related events like warming, changing precipitation patterns and greater frequency of extreme weather events have pushed more people into poverty, drastically impacting food security. A majority of our present food systems are unsustainable and are responsible for 34 per cent of anthropogenic GHG emissions that impact our food, nutrition, our health (farmers and consumers) and biodiversity.
Additionally, governments and corporations are citing this crisis to promote false solutions such as monocropping-based climate resilient/climate-smart agriculture and mandatory fortification for PDS. It is essential to project diverse dietary choices as not just a better alternative, but also a solution to climate change adaptation.
Through this event, Greenpeace India aims to develop and strengthen self-sustaining consumer collectives that will source indigenous rice varieties directly from the farmers, thereby playing a significant role in building sustainable food systems. Over 500 citizens are expected to participate in the event.
Activities include a demo class on how to cook indigenous rice varieties, a fully organic food pop-up with three delicious dishes, exhibition-cum-sale of organic rice varieties by farmers.
