Kudumbashree Holds Food Festivals in Kozhikode to Promote Healthy Local Dishes

Kudumbashree’s focus on nutrition as part of Poshan Maah observance

In Kozhikode, the Kudumbashree district mission has been organising food festivals and cooking contests over the past month to promote local, healthy dishes as part of the Rashtriya Poshan Maah observance.

The festivals are being held in wards and panchayats and feature dishes made using millets, tubers and various kinds of leaves.

Promoting familiar local foods

The mission is organising its Poshan Maah activities in convergence mode to mobilise people and reinforce nutrition and health behaviours.

Its focus is on local and healthy dishes that have long been available but have not been widely used, along with cooking methods that promote health without sacrificing flavour.

“The food festivals feature local healthy and tasty foods that have existed for long but have not been explored much in an effort to popularise them and introduce their nutritional value to others,” says Nishida Saibuni, Kozhikode district programme manager, Kudumbashree.

“Take millets for instance,” she says, adding that although millets have gained popularity recently, dishes made using ragi, kambam and other millets had always been cooked.

The festivals also feature dishes made using tubers such as colocasia, yam and sweet potato, as well as various kinds of leaves.

“The food festivals promote these healthy recipes without compromising on taste, so as to appeal to children especially,” Ms. Saibuni says.

She describes the programme as an eye opener, saying that the participants had not known that such a large collection of healthy recipes existed or that they had rich nutrient value.

Local alternatives and nutrition awareness

Another learning from the activities is that foods that are not locally produced and are somewhat expensive can be replaced with locally available alternatives with similar nutrient value, Ms. Saibuni points out.

This focus places local ingredients at the centre of nutrition awareness while also drawing attention to the nutritional value of recipes that have not been explored much.

Recipe-sharing programmes and poster-making contests are also being organised as part of the observance.

Kudumbashree resource persons are conducting classes in self-help groups and Kudumbashree Balasabhas on themes including obesity and psychosocial well-being.

Activities across the State

Krishnakumari R., State Assistant Programme Manager, Food, Nutrition, Health, Wash, Kudumbashree, says Poshan Maah is being observed in convergence with other departments across the community development societies across the State.

She says this is because Kudumbashree self-help group and Balasabha members include pregnant women and children.

Kudumbashree resource persons at the district and community development society levels are organising activity-based programmes for self-help group members as part of social and behaviour change communication.

This year, awareness activities have used modules on obesity and psychosocial well-being that focus on the entire family, Ms. Krishnakumari says.

Medical camps for the prevention of non-communicable diseases and screening camps for sugar and blood pressure are also being organised.

The wider programme includes nutrition fetes linked to balanced diet awareness, awareness sessions by dietitians or doctors, rallies and participation in anganwadi activities.

Together, the activities connect food festivals, recipe-sharing, health screening and awareness sessions with the mission’s stated aim of reinforcing nutrition and health behaviours.

Source: The Hindu