In our part of rural Western Odisha, practices, culture, and knowledge around food have changed a lot over the past decades. To explore this issue in some detail, Shicol sat down to discuss with a group of locals – women, men, and children. To reflect on something as mundane as what we eat, there is nothing better than explaining it to complete outsiders. Luckily, two guests from the UK, professors at the transdisciplinary Institute of Citizenship, Society and Change in Preston, were available to ask questions.

We found that in the past, people in the villages could get a lot of produce from the forest and the river, and those populations who lived on the edge of the forest would come and sell what they collected. Most of these people have now moved away, and there is much less available overall in the forests.

Some families still have their own cows, though fewer than before, and we were amazed at the wide range of products made from cow’s milk – it’s not just butter and yoghurt! Medicinal plants are still being grown in people’s gardens, and knowledge of how to use each one has not disappeared. However, these home-grown medicines are now in competition with what one can buy at the pharmacy. Which one should be trusted more? And how welcome are all these changes?

Comparing food practices “now and then”

The workshop community at Shikha Eco-Learning-Village