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The World Indigenous People’s Day is celebrated on August 9th every year. This day presents an opportunity to take a peep into the health wisdom of Indigenous People of India, and not just the tribal culture of dance, culture and music.  

We often wonder how tribals are energetic, lean, fit, and immune to diseases despite the lack of so many resources that we have easy access to. 

Health revolves around two aspects on a larger scale: Diet and exercise (lifestyle).  

Exercise is plentiful in a tribal life, in their very lifestyle: toiling in the fields, walking for miles in the forests, working hard for basic requirements like drinking water. We can see a stark difference in tribal diet compared to that of city dwellers.  

 

In this piece, we have tried to highlight: 

• what these differences are 
• what lessons we can derive from them and 
• how we can implement them in our daily lives to stay healthy 

 

The basic difference in diet: 

• Tribal cuisine is proof of their lives as hunters and gatherers 
• Foods are freshly sourced forest produce from staying close to Nature in forest areas 
• Typical ingredients are often foods available in hills and wooded areas 

• As agriculture is rain-dependent and only 4 months a year in most areas, only the staples come from the fields. The other food items are collected, preserved, hunted/fished, or rarely grown in a small patch in the backyard 
• Needless to say, there is a need to preserve locally grown food for year-long consumption in some form.  
• The tribals stay away from mainstream, which in turn means minimum processed foods such as white sugar, refined flour, hydrogenated vegetable oil, processed milk, etc. No preservatives and refrigerated foods either 
• Diet is protein-rich to cope with heavy/strenuous work 

 

Staples- 

• Millets:  

Millets are staple in tribal food, as millets survive very well in hilly terrain and need less irrigation compared to wheat. Some millets like foxtail millet, the kodo millet (or rice grass), amaranth or rajgira are grown after the main crop in winters. Sometimes, they are grown on the sides in the field as a co-crop. Some millets are grown for medicinal value, one such example would be a yellow variant of the foxtail millet grown for the galactagogue properties, when there are pregnant women in the family.  

• Maize:  

Maize is a popular staple in central Indian tribes. Just saying that ‘makke di roti’ is popular, although not with only ‘sarson da saag’, just any ‘saag’ or even meat gravy.  

The corn grown here is the white corn, which is not so sweet, so it is not that high-glycemic corn that we are supposed to refrain from. Corn kernels act as mainstay food for many people; cultivating maize is great in terms of fodder for the livestock too.  

• Rice:  

Some tribals from the high rainfall areas are adept at growing fragrant and native rice. Speaking of rice, the process of hulling is largely manual and natural brown rice is consumed in many areas.  

• Yams:  

Wild yams and those grown in the backyard, are all consumed for their high carb, high satiety value. Yams are easy to cook, just grill them or boil them and they can be consumed as such. Makes for a great breakfast before a grueling day at work.  

• Fruits:  

Regional and seasonal fruits are consumed largely. Children not only explore the woods in groups for this bounty, sometimes they bring home enough to be able to sell in small amounts. Seen in Central and Western India are custard apples (sitaphal and ramphal), mangoes, jamuns, phalsa, khirni (golden berries) and karounda berries and so on. Lychee is abundant in North India and East India.   

• Bamboo:  

Tender shoots of bamboo are consumed as a vegetable. When cooked with little spices, it tastes like a cabbage dish. In the northeast, bamboo rice is also collected. Bamboo rice, being low-glycemic index food is in high demand among conscious eaters these days. For tribal communities of Melghat, the entire life revolves around bamboo. Bamboo can provide a base for practically everything: shelter, weapons, utensils, furniture, art objects, tools of daily use, food and clothing. There is an NGO in Melghat which works towards preserving the culture and skills at bamboo work; Melghat bamboo kendra is definitely worth a visit! 

• Vegetables:  

One other popular breakfast would be steam-cooked pumpkin! Pumpkins and a variety of gourds are grown around the house (mud house or bamboo house) in Central Indian tribal communities. Nothing needs to be thrown away! These gourds and cucumbers can be eaten raw or cooked, traded in barter if you have excess; what’s more, dry them and scoop out the interior spongy/porous material and they can make you ladles, bowls, spoons, pitchers, flasks to drink from, all from natural material! It’s simply amazing to look at and experience! 

Leafy greens are consumed on a large scale. Tender leaves of hundreds of weeds and trees all make great vegetables. Cooking is often simple with fresh garlic, onions and chilies. Salt, however, must be purchased from a nearby village or town.  

• Mushrooms:  

Finding and consuming edible mushrooms is also a skill. In general, white mushrooms are considered edible; however, not all. The knowledge of edible mushrooms largely stays with the locals of the forest. These again make high-protein foods.  

• Wine/fermented food:  

Making wine and fermenting food are great ways of preserving food.  

Fermented food made from staple flour is sour to taste, delicious, nutritious, and stays good for 3-4 days. That makes it ideal to carry along when the days are going to busy on the fields, and no one is likely to find time for cooking.  

Ayurveda texts describe wines made from fruits, honey, edible flowers, medicinal roots, barks, and leaves. Edible flowers of mahua are collected early in the morning in season and dried. These flowers are great food, when consumed in moderation. Making liquor from these flowers is a side business for tribals from Central India, that allows them some cash flow. This highly distilled liquor is revered and consumed as medicine too!  

• Sun-drying:  

Sun drying is a great way of preserving several foods- fruits like mahua, raw and ripe mangoes, small fish, mushrooms shreds and even flatbreads. Papadums are considered auspicious and are part of Holi celebrations in Central Indians tribal festivals.  

• Oils:  

Oils are extracted with wooden mills. Oils are sourced from mahua seeds, sesame, sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, kokum seeds, coconuts among others. Earthen pots are typically used to cook. These pots absorb some oil and one can cook food with minimal oil on some days, just by boiling some water in them.  

Ghee is not common in all tribes, but some shepherd and cowherd tribes make and sell ghee too.  

• Fishing:  

Freshwater fish, crabs and other crustaceans of fresh water are food. Fishing using handmade nets, thin nylon cloth/sarees is commonly seen in small ponds and streams. Flax seed is a crop grown for seeds, and the strong ropes that can be woven with the plant fibers. These are then turned into strong/water resistant nets.  

• Honey:  

Honey is one superfood. Great for children, highly nutritious, and more importantly, does not go bad for years. Collecting honey, consuming and at times selling it is one more element of tribal culture.  

• Proteins: The proteins come from animal sources, nuts and from pulses.  

i) Animal sources: In the core jungles near Bastar, a particular red ant chutney called Chaprah is a relished food. Another relished dish is Eri Polu made from silkworm pupa. There is a pork brain dish popular in Meghalaya tribes. While a red ant chutney may be difficult for some to even imagine, the high-protein aspect of such foods cannot be ignored.  

The health benefits of different meats have been described in Ayurveda. These include silkworms, earthworms, small/large reptiles, fish, several birds, rabbits and rodents, small and large herbivorous and carnivorous animals.   

ii) Lentils and beans: 

The popular pulses among tribals are black gram, horse gram, green gram, chickpeas, and the black-eyed beans just as with the other population. However, there are a few edible seeds and split lentils that are known to and collected exclusively by tribal population. One such example would be ‘daal’ made from seeds of the torana/chunna/zunna berries (Ziziphus rugosa). It is preserved as drought food.   

iii) Nuts:  

Nuts are precious. They taste great, are full of nutrition and last all year long. Wild almonds, cashews, and cudpahnut aka almondette (chirounji/charoli) are popular amongst tribals of India.  

Those on the southern and coastal side of the country have an abundance of coconuts and other palms in their area. Their lives revolve around these palms then.  

 

Quick Tips:

What can we learn? How can we implement the lessons?

The simple answer to this question is to start small. Take baby steps to implement diet and lifestyle changes. Here are a few suggestions:  

 

– Move more:

To compensate for our sedentary lives, go on long treks in Nature every once in a while 

– Greenery around you:

See more greenery, whenever you can get a chance, even if it is just for a weekend 

– Consume natural bounty:

Eat fruits and vegetables with minimum cooking, spices, oil tempering 

– Eat more millets–

Make one day of the week as a ‘millet day.’ Try jowar, bajra, maize, foxtail millet, finger millet.  

– Experiment with cooking style:

Go for variation in the way you cook. Try some cold cooking. Make smoothies, make salads and simple recipes with unheated oil added as dressing. Try experimenting with steaming, boiling, dry roasting and fermenting  

– Eat more greens:

Think beyond fenugreek and spinach! Try more local greens- Colocasia, drumstick leaves, Amaranthus, sorrel (ambadi/gongura), ghol (purslane), dill leaves, Cassia tora (chicory plant leaves), tender Celosia leaves (quail grass or the white cocks comb). Source hydroponic greens or simply collect/buy seeds and grow you own! 

– Consume local fruits:

Eat seasonal local fruits-karaunda, jamun, local wild berries,  

– Eat local yams for healthy carbs 

– Never binge eat  

If you can get your hands on healthy foods/produce such as bamboo rice, Mahua seed oil, cold-pressed black/white sesame oil, coconut oil, fresh Neera, palm sap jaggery or date sap jaggery make the most of the opportunity.   

 

Remember, Ayurveda says “Ahaar eva Aushadham” or ‘food is medicine.’ 

And when in doubt about the best health choices, go back to the roots (indigenous roots, we mean!).

 

Image courtesy: Dr. Yogesh Pawara

 

Source: 

Dr. Mamta Lele- Pawara 

(MD Ayurveda-Internal Medicine, CRAV-Kayachikitsa, MA Sanskrit)