Locavore

The yummiest Kachori's are sold in the back lanes of Khari Baoli. A small eatery in Khajuraho served the the best dry-mango pickle I have tasted, and some of the nicest meals I have had were served in tiny, family-run eateries in Kyoto...

Good food is often underrated, and very often served far from the world of frenzied reviews, tik-tok videos and reels. It often reminds me of Joshua Bell, one of the finest musicians in the world of western classical music, who once went busking as an experiment. At the busy entrance of a metro station in Washington, he played his violin for nearly an hour - six classical pieces from Bach, Massenet, Schubert and Ponce. Hardly anybody noticed, and even fewer stopped by to listen. From the people who did not recognise him he got about $20 in change. The very next night, he played at a fancy music concert where each ticket cost about $100!

Food and music was on my mind when I read this nice piece on Chef Thomas Zacharias. A chef for over 15 years, after training abroad and serving in leading restaurants, decided to travel the forgotten corners of the world to seek out ingredients, techniques, food traditions, folklores, stories and food recipes, from farmers and indigenous communities. 

What are some of the perspective-shifting foods he's discovered? Young sweet-potato leaves in Meghalaya, Atam (sour-fruit) from Goa, Thaavu (wild fern) from Chalakudy river basin in Kerala, and fire-ant chutney in Jharkhand! 

Thankfully for us, this chef's discoveries are being presented online: The  Locavore - a platform for spotting sustainable food practices around India!

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REFERENCES & LINKS

* Seth, Udbhav (2024): 'My trips taught me more than cookbooks ever did', Indian Express Eye, 7 Jan., 2024, URL - https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/chef-thomas-zacharias-indigenous-ingredients-9098402/ 

* The Locavore - https://thelocavore.in/ 

Celosia

 

A few decades ago, one of my professors used to be fond saying, "Nothing in nature exists without a purpose!".  His point was that while humans may not have figured it out yet, but every colour, texture, movement and behaviour in nature tells you a story of evolution and adaptation.

I keep thinking about this while looking at a solitary Celosia plant that has bloomed on our terrace. It started out in one form, and now, it looks completely different. It appeared unbidden, out of a forgotten corner, needing no special attention, and soon after the tiny saplings put on their striking variegated leaves, the squirrels found them tasty and ate up most of the new leaves. 

The Squirrels were of course not the only ones who found celosia so yummy.  It seems celosia and plants of the Amaranth family have long been consumed as vegetables in Asia, Africa and South America. So much so that in Nigeria celosia is called 'soko yokoto', meaning "make husbands fat and happy"!

On our terrace, the squirrels spared one single plant, and this is the one that has been changing costumes over the past four months, like a stage artist working overtime. Soon after the plant reached a foot high, a tiny bloom appeared which seemed to take away all the purple colour from the leaves. A month later, after the monsoons it became velvety and curly, spreading out wider to get the classic cockscomb look.

As of now the stem looks gaunt, but this bloom shows no signs of fading away. In fact it now seems to be in a mood to give back some colour back to its leaves, which now look narrow and spindle-like, a far cry from the rounded, multicoloured ones of the initial days.

Why does this plant go through such a transformation? Which are the insects it attracts as pollinators? 

As usual, when you try to figure out something, you only end up with more questions.. :P

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LINKS & REFERENCES

Celosia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celosia_argentea_var._cristata

Amaranth - super feed, super weed - https://www.phillyorchards.org/2018/04/17/amaranth-super-feed-super-weed/

Watching Trees Grow

The world may have come to a standstill because of the Covid-19 virus but life goes on.

On 23 March 2020, a day after the "Janata Curfew" and a day before the nationwide "Total Lockdown" enforced by the government, I had gone to buy vegetables from the local Mother Dairy F&V Outlet. It was a bright beautiful day but the parks we already beginning to look eerily empty - there were no children playing on the swings, the usually raucous volleyball court was empty and so was the open-air gym.

Yet there was something beautiful about the silence, the rustle of fallen leaves underfoot, and the sharp calls of the ashy prinia's hiding in the bushes. As I cut across the park and walked towards the booth, I noticed something unusual.

An elderly couple stood under a pilkhan tree (Ficus virens)giving directions to a little boy perched in the barren branches. He was plucking and tossing down the bright pink shoots which were being diligently piled under the tree.

What was this for? 

The old man, a villager from Bihar, was not very forthcoming but his wife cheerily said that you could sauté these shoots turn them into a delicious dish.  Cooking shoots of the pilkan tree just like the bamboo shoots? I had never heard of such a thing before! 

Ten days later, when I went to replenish our stock of veggies the street looks so different. The pilkhan trees that had been bright green on one side of the road had all turned pink from the thousands of new shoots, while the one that one tree which had been the early bird in once sense had now turned completely green with a fresh set of leaves.

Clearly the little boy has plenty of new trees to climb and at least one family needs to buy fewer vegetables from the vendors during this lockdown.

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NOTES -

* It seem pilkhan leaves have long been a popular ingredient for the Thai curry phak lueat - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_curry

Food Aid, Trade and WTO

It is a strange world.

There is enough farmland producing more than enough surplus food to feed each and every child and adult in every country in the world, year after year. And yet, what is actually happening is that many countries that produce surpluses actively seek to undermine local farming systems, and to turn entire countries dependent on hand-outs.

It is called the Law of Comparative Advantage. On the face of it this law, based on a theory David Ricardo published in 1817, makes perfect sense. However, in the real world of natural and man-made disasters, it plays out rather differently. Consider these cases -

• Malawi: In the early 2000s, Malawi faced severe food shortages. Enthusiastic food aid donors over-reacted to a projected 600,000-tonne food deficit, and sent close to 600,000 tonnes of food in aid. However, commercial and informal importers brought in an additional 350,000–500,000 tonnes. Malawi was flooded and had very large carry-over stocks. Maize prices dropped from $250 per tonne to $100 per tonne in the course of a year. Local production of maize, cassava, and rice fell markedly, and in a larger disaster that played out subsequently, estimated losses to the Malawian economy were approximately $15m.
• The Philippines: US PL 480 food aid was used to finance the purchase of US exports. Ten years later, the Philippines was the largest market for US high-protein soybean meal, with US exporters accounting for 90 per cent of total imports.
• India: In India the same PL480 scheme resulted in the creation of one of its finest engineering schools. India was required to pay for the food aid in Rupees (plus 50% of ocean freight cost) which was deposited to the account of the US Technical Cooperation Mission in India. These funds were to be spent on programmes approved by Government of India. One of these schemes, guided by PK Kelkar, was used to obtain US expertise in building IIT Kanpur.

According to a study by the OECD, shipping food from donor countries is 33 per cent more expensive than buying it from a third-party country (usually closer to the destination) and 46 per cent more expensive than buying it locally in the destination country. And yet this is exactly what happens on a fairly regular basis.

The WTO has been trying to do its bit but the opposition is formidable. The Doha Round negotiations took this up in light of evidence that the USA sometimes uses food aid to dump agricultural surpluses and to attempt to create new markets for its exports. Nothing came of it - successful  manoeuvring ensured the removal of the clause prohibiting surplus disposal via food aid.

While food aid continues to save millions of people in Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan from starvation, preventing such aid from destroying local production systems, and creating dependencies continues to be a challenge..

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LINKS & REFERENCES

* Narayanan (1960): India-US Food Agreement and State Trading in Food Grains, EPW -https://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1960_12/39/indous_food_agreementand_state_trading_in_foodgrains.pdf

* The Kanpur Indi-American Program (1962-72) - https://www.iitk.ac.in/doaa/convocation/data/KIAP_Report.pdf

Crumbs

This is an old print advertisement from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). On the bottom corner of this haunting image of people reacing out to the last crumbs on the plate, the fine print simply says, "A little from you can mean a lot. Make a contribution."

I do not know if people actually noticed the illustrations on the rim of this plate, or if the message got them to make a contribution, but I was reminded of this last sunday.

One of our neighbors had set up a shamiana to celebrate Basant Panchami and Saraswati Puja, a festival that marks the arrival of spring. As is the norm, a community kitchen was set up and hot food (puri's, kichri, curries and chutney) was being served as "prasaad", a holy offering.

I had just finished eating the food on my plate when I noticed a Jain neighbor sitting next to me. He was carefully picking out each an every crumb from his plate, leaving it absolutely clean.

Feeling a bit ashamed I started cleaning up my plate too, and asked him what prompted him to eat so carefully. He laughed at the very idea that I found it unusual and said, "According to Jain tradition, wastage of food is considered one of the worst sins...so for us, the first rule is to take only the quantity of food we really need, and then to remember that the holiest prasaad is the last sprinking of water used to clean-up our used plates...even the water used to clean a plate is not be wasted"!

Now that is something to think about...which are the other cultural habits or religious traditions that encourage people from wasting food?

A little from each of us can certainly mean a lot.

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LINKS

Why to Jains have strict food habits? -- http://www.jainism.com/blog/why-do-jains-have-strict-food-habits

Jainism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism

The Power of One

This is one obituary that refuses to leave my mindspace.

It is not often that we see touching, personal tributes to politician who passed away but E. Chandrasekharan Nair seems to have been a very unusual politician indeed. He is being refered to as the driving force behind Kerala's public distribution system which is not just functional (an usual thing in India), but also super efficient in delivering essential provisions (grains, fuel) to those who need it the most.

My own mother is a big fan of ECN. For a citizen who is not below the poverty line (BPL), even she can get 2kg of raw rice, 2kg of chemba (red) rice, 2kg of wheat atta and 0.5L of kerosene - all for just INR 100. "Where else in the world can you walk into a PDS shop and get so much for INR 100?" she asks, "Folks with BPL cards can get foodgrains at INR 1/kg!...even migrant labourers from other states are eligible for this facility!"

In most other states, foodgrains meant for the PDS is regularly siphoned off to private millers who, in turn, package it and sell it as branded stuff. How did one politician manage to fight off the usual lobbies and pressure-groups to put in place a welfare system that actually works?

The key to building an efficient PDS apparantly lies in the government agency that runs it. In this case, ECN was responsible for implementing key reforms as the minister in charge of  Kerala's Department of Food and Civil Supplies, for three long stints (1980-81, 1987-91 and 1996-2001).

Under this department, a public company, Kerala State Civil Supplies Corp Ltd (SupplyCo) runs a vast machinery for efficiently procuring foodgrains directly from the farmers at minimum support prices, of getting the grain processed in contracted mills, and, finally, getting them distributed through 14 district depots, 56 taluk depots and around 1500 retail outlets (Maveli Stores). The sales turnover of this company was nearly INR 4000 crores in 2015-16!


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REFERENCES / LINKS

- Obituary (NewsMinute) - http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/ex-kerala-minister-e-chandrasekharan-nair-architect-maveli-stores-passes-away-72372
- Obituary (The Hindu) - http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/e-chandrasekharan-nair-passes-away/article21095877.ece
(2000) - Interview - http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1719/17190980.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Chandrasekharan_Nair
Maveli Stores - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maveli_Stores
SupplyCo, Kerala - http://supplycokerala.com/

Behind that Yummy Crust

Is there a connection between Asparagus, the golden-brown crust on breads, and... cancer?

Its amazing how our understanding of organic chemistry can change the way look at the most ordinary things in life.

Among the 20 most commonly found amino-acids (the 'bricks' that make proteins) is one called Asparagine. It was the first AA to be isolated and it was originally found in - no prizes for guessing here - Asparagus juice. Since then asparagine has been found in many places - especially in starchy foods.

When starchy substances are baked or fried, asparagine undergoes a process called Maillard Reaction, responsible for giving baked/roasted/fried foods their brown color, crust and toasty flavor. Unfortunately the reaction also produces carcinogens like Acryamide and some heterocyclic amines.

How does one deal with this problem? Apparently, if you add an enzyme (Asparaginase) to break down Asparagine in the starchy substances,  the amount of Acryamide can be reduced by 90% without any change in food taste, color or 'crustiness'!

The problem is that food-grade Asparaginase does not come cheap.

Until public-awareness matches with buying power, perhaps we will all continue to consume carcinogens with each bite into a crusy morsel!


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LINKS / REFERENCES

*
- Mannitol - sugar derivatie used to prodce medicine - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannitol
- Tumor cells too cannot make their own Asparagine, a non-essential  amino acid. L-A removes it from the blood and starves tumors to death!
- Present marketshare of for therapeutic recombinant proteins is around $200 billion
- Erythropoietin - A glycopptotein hormone / cytokine (protein signalling molecule) that controls RBC production (erythropoiesis). Mkt leader - Amgen ($2.15b)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentilla
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagine

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_glycation_end-product

An enzyme in India -

* Mohan, Vishwa (2014): Unique enzyme discovered by CSIR institution to increase shelf life of fruits and vegetables, ToI, 11May2014
- CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology (CSIR-IHBT), Palampur has signed a MoU with its industry partner— Phyto Biotech, Kolkata, to formalize technology transfer for production of unique enzyme which may be used in developing anti-ageing cream.
- enzyme — Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD) — may also be used in food and pharmaceutical industries for end applications like extending shelf life of fruits and vegetables.
- Medicinal plant based research, discovery of APIs and related molecules
- enzyme — Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD) — may also be used in food and pharmaceutical industries for end applications like extending shelf life of fruits and vegetables.
- Source - 10,000 feet in the Western Himalayan region from Potentila astrosangunia, plant growing under snow cover
- work over the years has resulted in the isolation of the SOD gene -  a protocol was developed for cloning of the gene in E Coli.
- stability and functionality ranging from sub-zero to high temperature (above 40°C) with varying specific activity

SRI - New Farming

India plants rice over an area of about 43 million ha and produces around 125 million tonnes of rice, which is over 43 percent of national food grain production. The average yield remains low at around 2.85 t/ha.


Over the last few years, there has been much talk of a new method of crowing crops called the System of Rice (or root) Intensification (SRI). It has dramatically increased yields with wheat, potatoes, sugar cane, yams, tomatoes, garlic, aubergine and many other crops and is being hailed as one of the most significant developments of the past 50 years for the world's 500 million small-scale farmers and the two billion people who depend on them.

Farmers in a Bihari village named Darveshpura are being feted for coming up with astonishingly high yields - one Sumant Kumar has grown 22.4 tonnes of rice on one hectare of land, using only farmland manure and without any pesticides. Another small farmer from a nearby village, broke the Indian record for growing wheat.

Are we really poised on the edge of another Green Revolution?

A detailed study by researchers led by Palaniswami K have reported in the EPW that the SRI method does seem to have increased yield and reduced the use of water in select locations. This team used data from 13 rice-growing states in India to come to this conclusion.

It will be interesting to see if this is more than just a flash in the pan...

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LINKS & REFERENCES:

* Palaniswami K (2013): DOING DIFFERENT THINGS OR DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY? EPW,  http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2013_48/08/Doing_Different_Things_or_Doing_It_Differently.pdf

* Vidal, John (2013): INDIA'S RICE REVOLUTION, The Guardian, 16Feb13 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/feb/16/india-rice-farmers-revolution

* Siddiq, EA (): BRIDGING THE RICE YIELD GAP IN INDIA, FAO - http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6905e/x6905e09.htm


* SDTT-SRI - http://sdtt-sri.org/

'What is it to sleep hungry?'

What is it to sleep hungry?

This was a question Harsh Mandar asked an audience of university-educated, middle-class Indian youngsters. Since no answers were forthcoming, he went on to talk of his experiences with some of the poorest communities in the country.

Folks belonging to the Musahar ('Rat-eater') community in Eastern India, learnt the answer to this question quite early in life. During the lean seasons, when even rats are hard to come by, mother's apply a herb to their baby's thumb fingers which they suckle to sleep. Older children are taught more advanced survival skills -  picking edible food-grains and nuts from animal feces, raiding burrows for remnants of food and chewing on 'fake foods'.

The point being driven home was that it is unconscionable for citizens to go hungry in a country that is sitting on huge "buffer-stocks" of nearly 80 million tonnes of food grains. According to Dreze and Khera, never in history has so much under-nutrition co-existed with so much hoarding of food.

This simple assertion - or fact - forms the basis for the Food Security Bill currently being considered by the Parliament.

Critics of this Bill insist that it would become another law which just cannot be implemented. Food, along with Fuel and Fertilizer forms the 'subsidy triad' which is already a burden on our finances. Even though volume of food grains needed to implement food security schemes is just 8 million tonnes more than the 55 million tonnes being channeled down our leaky Public Distribution System,not everyone is sure whether the food will actually reach the intended beneficiaries living in remote rural areas.

One also wonders which is the greater evil -- feeding the rent-seekers already entrenched in the system, or creating a another form of 'state dependency'.

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REFERENCES & LINKS:


* Sharma, Vijay Paul (2012): FOOD SUBSIDY IN INDIA: TRENDS, CAUSES AND POLICY REFORM OPTIONS, IIMA Working Papers, Aug2012, url - http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/assets/snippets/workingpaperpdf/5337679172012-08-02.pdf
- trends in post-reform period 1991-92 to 2012-13
- Subsidy was Rs.72,283 Cr (2011-12) - 5% of Agricultural GDP -- it was just Rs.2,850 Cr in 1991-92...increased 25X in 21 years!
- bottom decile class of consumers (based on per monthly per capita consumer expenditure) spends about 65 per cent of total expenditure on food items in rural areas and about 62 per cent in urban areas.
- Minimum Support Price (MSP) for rice and wheat doubled between 2005-2012

* Patnaik, Banikinkar (2012): FOOD SECURITY BILL LIKELY IN NEXT SESSION, SAYS THOMAS, The Financial Express, 29Sep12, url - http://www.financialexpress.com/news/food-security-bill-likely-in-next-session-says-thomas/1009615/0
- The proposed Bill aims to provide legal entitlement for subsidised grain to around 63.5% of the country’s population. Provisional estimates suggest the government needs as much as 63 million tonnes (mt) of grain to implement the Bill, nearly 8 mt higher than the current requirements. However, the Bill, once enacted, may drive up the government’s annual food subsidy bill to R1,19,000 crore, compared with R72,823 crore in 2011-12. (FT)


* Dreze, Jean and Ritika Khera (2012): A BILL THAT ASKS TOO MUCH OF THE POOR, The Hindu, 5Sep12, url - http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3859455.ece
- procurement has crossed 70 million tonnes per year, distribution is not keeping up, and excess stocks are growing. Never in history has so much undernutrition co-existed with so much hoarding of food. The government is desperately trying to export the surplus stocks, or simply allowing them to pile up unprotected. Reviving and revamping the Food Security Bill sounds like a better idea.


* Mander, Harsh (2012): Book Review - Big Talk at High Tide, Outlook, 16 July 2012, url - http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281531
* Mander, Harsh (2012): Dissent is a Virtue Too, The Hindu, 2 June 2012, url - http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Harsh_Mander/article3482956.ece
*Mander, Harsh (2012): Barefood - Their Discovery of India, The Hindu, 7 April 2012, url - http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Harsh_Mander/article3290891.ece
*Mander, Harsh (2008): Poverty the Eye Cannot See, Himal, October 2008, url - http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/910-poverty-the-eye-cannot-see.html
. Poverty and its handmaiden, inequality, he says, “are everywhere for all those with eyes to see”, yet academics and policymakers “have an almost existential need to know how much of ‘it’ there is, and who ‘they’ are.” In fact, they are in “every landlord’s house, in each village, every five-star hotel is surrounded by them, every posh colony has its antithesis outside its gate, where the other half strives to survive … they greet you again on the pavements after a late night … you have a brush with them at traffic lights.”

Makhana

Its now the Navratri festival season and a great time for shopkeepers stocking on dry fruits. For a nine-day period, millions of North Indians will substitute their normal carb-diet of wheat (and a bit of rice), and instead, consume lots of eatables that fall in under the category of fruits & nuts.

One of the popular dry-fruits is something called "Makhana". It looks like pop-corn that decided to 'pop' in perfect rounds and ovals, but costs much more - about Rs.600 a kilogram.

So what really is Makhana?

Surprisingly, it turns out to be seeds of a plant that belongs to the water-lily family: Euryale ferox.

Apparently it is called Makhana because most of it comes from Makhan - another name for the Mithila region of Bihar. The state accounts for 80 percent of Makhana production, of which about 40 percent of production goes to the start industry while the rest is consumed as food, mainly during 'socio-religions' occasions.

According to a newspaper report, Makhana has 'an annual average production of 50,000 tonnes and an estimated market of Rs. 500 crore ($ 1 billion) per annum, India exports Makhana to West Asia, the United States and some European countries. It is an excellent organic food with great medicinal value. It's seed is analgesic with aphrodisiac properties. In the northeast , unripe Makhana fruit is used as a vegetable'.

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REFERENCES / LINKS

* Parsai, Gargi (2012): NOW YOU CAN GROW MAKHANA IN LOW FARMLAND, The Hindu, 23 Jan., 2012, url - http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2823325.ece

* ToI (2004): MAKHANA ON WAY TO EUROPE, Times of Indi, url - http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2004-10-30/patna/27167847_1_madhubani-farmers-project-report

Eating Beef in India

.
"You eat beef?!? I thought it was forbidden for Hindus!"

How many times have I heard this and how many time did I have to explain and defend the wide-wide range of eating habits in India?...well, I've stopped counting.

Until sometime back, I would hold forth on the cultural diversity of India; that Hinduism is not a religion of the book and that it does not presume to micro-manage the life and habits of its adherants; and that in many Indian states - especially in the South, North-Eastern and Himalayan region, Hindus have absolutely no qualms about consuming beef. It is possible, I tell them, that the Indians they met earlier were all Hindus from the Gangetic-plains or the Western states where cattle had been traditionally a valuable economic asset, etc,.

If the look of disbelief and that you-are-just-a-subversive look persists, I try to tell them that in my home state, Kerala, no public non-veg eatery (or college canteen) would stay in business if it did not serve "parotta & beef-fry".

I guess the surprise is understandable. So rather than going on the "cultural diversity" pitch, I've been trying to understand when and how the dogma against beef-eating came into practice.

It was not surprising to discover that there is no stricture against beef-eating in any of the ancient texts. According to Prof. Ram Puniyani, in the great epics and classics -

Many gods such as Indra and Agni are described as having special preferences for different types of flesh - Indra had weakness for bull's meat and Agni for bull's and cow's. It is recorded that the Maruts and the Asvins were also offered cows. In the Vedas there is a mention of around 250 animals out of which at least 50 were supposed to be fit for sacrifice and consumption. In the Mahabharata there is a mention of a king named Rantideva who achieved great fame by distributing foodgrains and beef to Brahmins. Taittiriya Brahman categorically tells us: `Verily the cow is food' (atho annam via gauh) and Yajnavalkya's insistence on eating the tender (amsala) flesh of the cow is well known. Even later Brahminical texts provide the evidence for eating beef. Even Manusmriti did not prohibit the consumption of beef.

Also -

In therapeutic section of Charak Samhita (pages 86-87) the flesh of cow is prescribed as a medicine for various diseases. It is also prescribed for making soup. It is emphatically advised as a cure for irregular fever, consumption, and emaciation. The fat of the cow is recommended for debility and rheumatism

And:

The "Ashtanga Hrdaya Sutra Sthana" (the essence of eight limbs), written or compiled by Vagbhata, a Karachi-born buddhist savant, in circa 800AD  includes references to specific foods that are to consumed or avoided as a part of the healing regimen ("pathyam"). It includes specific references to the medicinal properties of beef (cow and buffalo - verse 66 & 67, Chapter - Annaswarupa Vijnaniya).

Apparently, one of the cudgels that Gautama Buddha picked against Hinduism was that the Brahmins were sacrificing cattle needlessly. At the same time, his emphasis on non-violence was not blind or rigid. Buddha did taste beef and the fact that he died due to eating pork is well known.

So when did the Brahmins, who were happily slaughtering cattle do a U-turn and wake up to the virtues of vegetarianism? Prof. Puniyani believes that -

One of the appeals to the spread of Buddhism was the protection of cattle wealth, which was needed for the agricultural economy. In a way while Brahminism `succeeded' in banishing Buddhism from India, it had also to transform itself from the `animal sacrifice' state to the one which could be in tune with the times. It is here that this ideology took up the cow as a symbol of their ideological march. But unlike Buddha whose pronouncements were based on reason, the counteraction of Brahminical ideology took the form of a blind faith based on assertion. So while Buddha's non-violence was for the preservation of animal wealth for the social and compassionate reasons the counter was based purely on symbolism.

So, there you are. The ban on beef-eating did not emerge as an affirmation of the value of life or from a clear conviction about the virtues of vegetarianism. It was just a convenient political ideology to sway the masses against Buddhism.

Today, it continues to be used exactly the same way by the right-wing "Hindutva" fanatics in their efforts to broaden their political support base. Therefore the issue of beef-eating in India has always been just another stepping stone for those who lust for power and influence. It has absolutely nothing to do with the spiritual moorings of Hinduism as a religion.

(If only I could lay my hands now on a plate of hot parotta &beef-fry!!...  :P' ' ' )

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REFERENCES / LINKS

• Jose, Vinod (2015): Beef over Buff - http://www.caravanmagazine.in/perspectives/beef-over-buff 
• Puniyani, Ram (2001), Beef Eating: Strangulating History, The Hindu Newspaper, 14 Aug., 2001; URL - http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/08/14/stories/13140833.htm
• Reddy, Sheila (2001), A Brahmins Cow Tale's, Outlook Magazine, September 17, 2001. URL - http://www.scribd.com/doc/7708836/A-Brahmins-Cow-Tales-History-of-Beef-Eating-in-India-by-Hindus.
• Bhosle, Varsha (1998) -- Good God, Thou Ate Beef? -- http://www.rediff.com/news/column/varsha-bhosle-good-god-thou-ate-beef-/20150305.htm
• Aiyar, Swaminathan S Anklesaria (2003): “Serving beef at Ayodhya,” Times of India, 24 August, accessed on 30 April 2015, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/all-that-matters/Serving-beef-at-Ayodhya/articleshow/144132.cms
• BR Ambedkar - "Did Hindus Never Eat Beef?" - http://www.countercurrents.org/ambedkar050315.htm
• Sukumar, N (2015): WHY BEEF WAS BANISHED FROM MY KITCHEN, EPW (25Apr15) - http://www.epw.in/web-exclusives/why-beef-was-banished-my-kitchen.htm 

Saudahataki: What is the name of the guest who has arrived today with a big train of women?Dandayana: Stop joking. It is no less a person than the revered Vasishta himself.Saudahataki: Is it Vasishta, eh?Dandayana: Who else?Saudahataki: I thought it was a tiger or a wolf. For, as soon as he came, he crunched up our poor tawny heifer.Dandayana: It is written that meat should be given along with curds and honey. So every host offers a heifer, a big bull, or a goat to a learned Brahmin who comes as a guest. This is laid down in sacred law.

This is a dialogue between two hermit boys at Ayodhya in Uttara-Rama-Charitra, one of the most celebrated versions of the Ramayana written by Bhavabhuti in the 8th century AD (Aiyar 2003).

Natto Bachao!

"Food Crisis - Save Natto!" - this was the title of a presentation given by a classmate at UNU today.

Natto is traditional Japanese food made from fermented soya beans. Ibaraki prefecture is well known for it.

I'm not too sure if the data was reliable but it was interesting to know that only 5% of Natto consumed in Japan is made from domestically grown soybeans. Most of the beans is imported from USA (71%) and Brazil (13%) and Canada (7%).

Apparantly 4.4 billion packs of Natto is consumed every year in a country of 0.1 billion people.

However, a lot of questions came up from this presentation - What is the volume / value of soyabeans imports to Japan? How is it that imported soyabean is kosher for the Japanese when they are so touchy about rice imports?

The answers, unfortunately, were not too convincing.