In Bicholim, a govt primary school takes on challenge of reviving culinary heritage

Keri: A government primary school at the Tillari rehabilitation colony in Sal, Bicholim, recently took it upon itself to revive some of Goa’s culinary traditions.
At the school in Kholpewadi, Sal, a competition was organised to challenge local participants, including students’ parents to prepare food items using local varieties of parboiled rice and millet.
“We asked them to prepare food items only from parboiled rice and millet like Pakhad, Nachane and Vari. This is because these are good sources of highly digestible protein, are low in calories, are rich in fibre and also are a good source of iron and possess other nutritional value,” said school headmaster Dhaktu Patil.
Making use of different food grains available in Goa, local communities have enriched the Goan cuisine over the years. The state’s culinary heritage offers calories and nutritional value in equal measure for the smooth functioning of the body in the local environment, said a teacher of the government primary school, Sanket Naik. However, in the era of fast foods, preference for traditional food items is fading, he added.
“Our people living in tune with nature used to follow an eco-friendly lifestyle and prepared a variety of food items by making judicious use of rice and millet grown in their vicinity,” said Naik.
At the end of the competition, the participants displayed 18 food items including ladoos, yellape, godachi bhakar, patalyo, idli, ambil, pole, upit, kapa, conne and cake prepared from the parboiled rice and millet.
“We have completely forgotten a wide variety of food grains like Pakhad. Once our forefathers made delicious and nutritious recipes using these grains. The ambil made from finger millet used for breakfast, for instance, provides energy for manual work in agricultural fields,” said Rutuja Gawas.
Harshada Manerikar, a parent, said that the competition helped reintroduce locals to lost nutritionally-rich traditional food. “In the past during a fast we used to relish upit prepared from little millet called Vari, which is highly nutritious and an excellent source of dietary fibre. Seeds of most of the millet are processed and then used for preparation of different types of porridge and other delicacies which are consumed during a fast,” said Manerikar.