Participants prepare delicacies from millets at a competition organised
at the venue of Traditional Food Festival in Tiruchi on Thursday.
Consumers at traditional food festival advised to shun junk food
A traditional food festival featuring a variety of
dishes made from minor millets such as finger millet (kelvaragu),
foxtail millet (thenai), kodo millet (varagu), pearl millet (kambu), and
sorghum (cholam), was inaugurated by T.P. Poonachi, Minister for Khadi
and Village Industries, here on Thursday.
Chief whip
and MLA R. Manoharan, District Collector Jayashee Muralidharan, and
Mayor A. Jaya were present at the event which was organised by the
Agriculture Department. The aim of the festival was to create awareness
among the public about the benefits and importance of traditional food
items.
Ms. Jayashree said that today’s generation
had moved away from traditional food and consumes junk food such as
colas and pizzas which affected their health. “We all are awed by colas.
The public should avoid such harmful items and consume traditional and
healthy items such as coconut water,” she said.
Adding
that dishes such as biryani, pizzas, and biscuits could be prepared
from millets, apart from usual items such as idli and dosa, she said it
was necessary to bring back youth and children to their roots by using
millets.
Ms. Jayashree and Mr. Poonachi together
released a special recipe book providing details about the dishes
prepared using millets and the procedure, importance as well as benefits
to preparing and consuming them.
The one-day event,
held at Kalaiarangam Marriage Hall, attracted many visitors who sampled
the interesting food that was made out of pulses, minor millets, and
lesser known grains.
Unusual dishes such as varagu
idlis, thenai pongal, multigrain laddus, haverkorral (kaadaikanni)
biscuits, ragi murukkus, kelvaragu biryani, and kambu urundai, were
available and a few were served in man sattis in traditional style.
Entry
was free for the festival in which women’s forums, women’s self-help
groups, restaurant associations, home science colleges, and government
and private colleges of catering and hotel management, displayed and
sold food items made of minor millets at low prices in stalls.
They educated visitors about the uses and benefits of millets.
“I
never knew that there was a millet called haverkorral (kaadaikanni) and
that one can make biscuits using it. This festival is useful as I
learnt a lot about these traditional food items and got a chance to
taste many unique dishes,” said P. Rajeswari, a housewife.
Food
officers from the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India),
State government as well as Union government offices put up stalls
where they enlightened public on the methods to detect adulterations in
salt, mustard, tea powder, and pepper. People learnt not to be misled by
false advertisements and the importance of paying only the MRP while
purchasing items.
“I now know how to distinguish
between nai kadugu and normal kadugu. It is easy to spot the difference
if one uses magnifying glasses and looks closely. I understood the side
effects of consuming adulterated food,” said M. Priya, student of a
private college.
Competitions were conducted for the participants and prizes were distributed among the winners.
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