FOOD HABITS OF TIWA TRIBE IN ASSAM

Indian J Traditional Knowledge, 2007

Abstract: Learning about edible plants, processing of foods and medicine using location specific wisdom and conservation of food related resources has been in the large part due to incremental and cumulative learning among the societies living in close connection with ...

In north east India different tribal people use natural herbs in preparing different recipes. The primary focus of this work is to identify the nutritional support of food in indigenous community like Mising. As we now that food is a nourishing substance and trying to find out the study of food rather than the relationship between food and human experience. Food is always an essential part of human society and people also experience it in different ways in everyday. In the study of food from the times of engagement of animals in agriculture; historians have been exploring the various dimensions of food for its entry into the field of study in social sciences. In Mising community people prefer healthy eating and to effectively promote the growth of people. The present study is trying to analyze the factors of healthy eating and the symbolic representation of food in Mising community.

2012

The Mising peoples are the second largest plain tribes of Assam inhabitation in the Upper Assam particularly along the bank of river Brahmaputra. They are one of the culturally rich ethnic tribe of Assam, mostly dependent on nature for their livelihood. They rear pigs and poultry in every house hold which is a part of their custom. Fishing in rivers and beels is another important practice of these people. Besides, they use plenty of wild plants as vegetables in their daily food items from time immemorial. The paper deals with the investigation and documentation of some important plant species habitually use in their food items particularly in nonvegetarian dishes. In this study, we also observed that the use of some of these plant species is pertaining to their religious belief and festivals also.

Food habit of human being depends on food commodities available in the area. Food commodities encourage Cuisine, preservation, presentation and traditional knowledge on that. Cultural discourses of a particular community relates on the food habit they practices in the area. It has sole relation with religion and custom of a community. Bodo food habit is peculiar to other community having different type of traditional knowledge. The paper tries to approach the traditional technological knowledge in regards of food preparation and preservation of the particular community the Bodos.Food habit of a community depends on ecology. It also has to depend on availability of food products, soil conditions, and tradition of beliefs, practices, social structure, and religious bindings. Besides, it relates with the community knowledge, how the foods are prepared, preserved, and discoursed in the context. The preparation, presentation and preservation knowledge are scattered in man and women folk in societies. Tradition of fishing, hunting, collection of food grains, leaves, roots, flowers, stems, buds, insects etc. have peculiar knowledge system. Bodo is a tribe from sub group of Mongoloid or the Kiratas, otherwise known as the Indo Mongoloids or Indo Tibetans. The vast tract of land inhabited by the Bodo people in the Terrain and build up Zone of Himalayan sub mountain region is only a plain land and highly suited for agriculture. They follow the Bathou religion, which has five principles. Bathouni Bandwa Bandwba, Sijauni siria Siriba, Thaigirni Khonga Khongba, Siphungni gudunga gudungba, Bwrai Bathouni raoa fongba. Its rendering is that lighten of Bathou is of five, Siri (line)of Sijou is five lines, hole of Siphung (the flute) is five, holy speeches of Bathou is also of five. They are living in a scattered manner throughout the North Eastern region of India. There are some small Bodo pocket areas also outside India-that is in Burma, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan .Though they are in different climatic condition their habits of consuming food commodities, preparation of foods, fondness in living are partially alike. Being a tribe, their food habits, tradition of food collection, gathering, preservation, preparation are partially alike to North Eastern Indian tribes. The paper tries to study the Food habits of the Bodos specially living in the state of Assam. This group of people generally scattered in the bank of rivers, wetlands, nearby forests, hillsides. They have habit of domestication of animals like, cow, goat, pig, dogs, cats, hens, pigeon, duck etc. They gather, collect food from nearby jungles, forests, wetland like beelw (lake), hakhor (small pond), Dwima (river), gathwn nijwra (jan-juri), beher (pitoni), etc. Their collection of fish food from wetlands is interesting. It has folkloristic value. They have some creative knowledge in collection of foods. They follow some natural laws and customary law on those activities. Bodo women collect fish, Vegetables, stems, roots, leaves, buds, flowers as their food from nearby forests of open field free of costs. They cultivate food grains for their own for whole the year. Now days with the advent of society and growing population large quantity of food grains are produced.

Present study is an effort to understand the Naga art of cooking; their endemic food variety, cooking methods, and also the medicinal values of the herbs used in their kitchen. This paper deals with the various food items viz., vegetables, meat, spices etc., eaten by the people of Nagaland in their daily routine and on special occasions like festivals and weddings. Some of the traditional kitchenware used by the local tribes was also studied to understand their significance. It was observed that the various traditional methods used by the tribal people to cook food plays a vital role in retaining the nutritive value of the food and has significant impact on their health. This study is an attempt to connect the health, longevity and immunity of the people with the food they eat. The source of the primary data was visit to various villages, personal interactions and interviews with the tribal ladies and experts of the villages. Local markets of Kohima city were visited and vendors were questioned about the use of the food items. Observation was recorded via photography and videography. Secondary data was also collected from various published resources, to support our observations and findings.

IDOSI

The article deals with the status of wild edible plants and their traditional utilization as diet recipes by different ethnic communities of Tripura. Field study was carried out in the Baramura Hill ranges of newly formed Khowai district. Total 41 species of 36 genera and 22 families of wild edible plants were documented through semi-structured interviews and preference ranking methods among three ethnic groups viz. Tripuri, Molsom and Rupini of Tripura. Eight different types of traditional recipes were identified which mostly prepared by 41 wild edible plants. Among the traditional recipes, Gudak and Chakhwi were found to be most preferred diet compliments among the communities. These wild edible plants also traditionally used as medicine and major food supplements by those ethnic communities.

Archives of Applied Science Research, 2013

The present study deals with the identification, documentation and exploration of wild edible vegetables consumed by Bodo tribes of Kokrajhar District, Assam (North-East India). A total of 52 wild edible plants were surveyed. Plants are the nature’s gift to mankind and consumed wholly or in parts either cooked or raw. These are delicious, refreshing and chief sources of vitamins, minerals and protein. Vegetables constitute a major part of daily food intakes and play an important role in well-balanced diet and maintain healthy living. Utilization of wild plant resources in day-to-day life of Bodo tribes has been an old-age practice and recently popularity of the same has declined. Hence, prime importance should be given to them in order to maintain and popularize this important source of non-conventional food supply. In this paper, the scientific names along with family, local names in Bodo, time of availability, edible parts used and method of use of the wild edible plants are prese...

An ethnobotanical survey of food practices of an aboriginal, hill-dwelling Kandha tribe of Kalahandi district, revealed that in addition to their conventional foods, rice, finger millet and a few popular pulses, they use many types of naturally occurring unusual additional food items such as carnals of mango, several types of tubers of the genus Dioscorea, wild bean Mucuna utilis Wall. ex Wight, Madhuca indica J.F.Gmel. flowers, Caryota urens pith, Tamarindus indica seeds, younglings of bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) and wild mushrooms. Detailed methods of processing of these items are unique and bitter tasting chemicals (alkaloids) of these food items are removed by repeated boiling and discarding the boiled water.

2015

Documentation is the basic method of preserving indigenous traditional knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is passed down through generations and is in reality a necessary means of understanding many aspects of science. The indigenous techniques of food processing by the Mizo residing in a landlocked state Mizoram, in northeast India has not been recorded systematically. This article describes some of the most familiar techniques of Mizo traditional food processing techniques; however, minor differences have been observed among different parts within the state. It was amazing to observe that the Mizos utilize the available resources such as fire or sun for food preservation and developed their own way of innovative scientific methods for food processing. It has been recommended that a study on the nutritive values of the Mizo traditionally processed foods would be very significant to see the impact of such processing on the health of the Mizo community.

2018

The state of Himachal Pradesh is inhabited by different tribal communities of which Kinnaura is one of them. These tribal people depend upon the large number of plant species available in their vicinity as source of food, medicine, fodder, dye, oil etc. Traditional food plants are the plants which are accepted by rural communities since ages, preserved through their customs, habits and traditions. These traditional food items are also recognized as ‘functional foods’ as they are rich with body healing chemicals, antioxidants, dietary fibers and probiotics. Native people are used to these food plants and they know how to prepare these for consumption in their day to day life. These plants not only provide substantial nutritional and dietary benefits to these tribal people who live in such remote rural areas and also prevent several chronic diseases caused by malnutrition. In the current scenario, where increasing population pressure is high and as a result pressure on a few selective...

International Food Research Journal, 2017

There is amazing diversity of culinary knowledge among the Angami Nagas but consumption of fried foods is very rare. The present study aims to document ethnic food habits of the Angami Nagas of Kohima district, Nagaland state. Group discussion, personal interview (semi-structured) and personal observation were included in the study design. Most plants are eaten boiled and a few species are taken raw. Galho, Galkemeluo, Ghabe, Modi and Tathu are the important traditional dishes. These are prepared from wild edibles except Modi. Ignorance of wild foods by the Angami Nagas of younger generation can lead to gradual decline of traditional knowledge of wild foods in the society. There is sincere need for the documentation of the traditional knowledge of food system of the Angami Nagas.

2015

The Naga tribes of Nagaland have a unique tradition of selection and utilization of plant resources. Many food plants both from cultivation and wild are being used as ethnomedicinal plants by the herbal healer in Naga society. The Zeliang is one of the dominant tribe of Nagaland with rich indigenous knowledge systems and have minimum impact of present day modernization. The tribe has aged old unique food habits for their nutritional support and health cares. The present paper highlights the ethnomedicinal uses of 35 food plants belonging to 26 families used by the Zeliang tribe of Nagaland. These food plants include mostly the species used for vegetables, condiments and fruits.

nopr.niscair.res.in

The traditional foods processed and prepared by women of Northeastern region are intimately connected to their socio-cultural, ecological, spiritual life and health. The processing and preparation of ethnic foods not only demonstrate the creativity and treasure of food heritage of tribal ...

Pleione 12(2), 2018

s Northern part of West Bengal is home to diverse group of tribal people coming from different roots of origin. These people have rich tradition and cultural backgrounds. Among them Rabha is one of the primitive tribes. This paper primarily deals with the recording of their traditional knowledge about the edible leafy vegetables and analyzing various preparations. As per the latest Nagoya Protocol, open ended questionnaires were used to obtain information from the resource persons with prior written permissions. In total 100 informants were interviewed that yielded the names of 40 vegetable plants belonging to 26 families. Among all Amaranthaceae recorded the maximum of eight species, followed by Rubiaceae with four speciess. For rest of the family either two or at least one species could be recorded. In almost all cases, tender shoots or leaves were cooked and consumed, whereas only in case of vegetable plants like Alternanthera paronichioides, Oldenlandia corymbosa, Polycarpon prostratum and Portulaca oleracea were reported to be cooked wholly. Some of these species also has reported medicinal values and are often eaten as part of traditional system of treatment for different ailments. The database of such plants can help in solving problems of food securities by utilizing traditional knowledge of Rabha people or in larger perspective any other tribes.

2020

This paper attempts to understand the importance, situations and context in food consumption focusing on the rituals and traditions. Odisha, a state in the eastern part of India, being famous for fair and festivals shows a variety of food items that are associated to various rituals either religious or secular. The ritual foods are mainly made from the ingredients that are locally available or most popular in Odisha. Deep understanding of the ritual foods of Odisha can show its continuity with the past and reflect cultural ideas about eating for good health, nutrition and many more. This traditional food items and its making procedures are vanishing or modernizing due to introduction of new food items, ingredients and Western food. Hence the present study has tried to document and describe various type of ritual food in Eastern Odisha, the ingredients used and the way of preparation.