Preserving Culinary Traditions: Seasonal Vegetables

good afternoon everyone on behalf of the wiki rural tourism council goa it's my absolute pleasure and privilege to welcome all of you to this discussion this afternoon my name is mini rivero and i'm the state president for the council it's an indeed a wonderful afternoon sunny afternoon in goa today and we're going to be talking about the monsoon grain leafy vegetables i have with me an esteemed panel of speakers this afternoon who are actually going to be throwing light on this subject the monsoon grain leafy vegetables as the pandemic battered world tries to get back on its feet gastronomy tourism is looked upon as a key step to restart the beleaguered tourism sector sustainable practices have become more important and relevant today as never before and perhaps these are an important tool to rebuild the local economy keeping this in mind our discussion this afternoon on monsoon green leafy vegetables is really to explore how these can be used as a step towards creating awareness about rural tourism perhaps making this a peg around which rural tourism can center and of course finding out how these vegetables grow how important is seasonality in rural tourism and of course how can these green leafy vegetables be cooked and served in delicious delicacies without much to do i'm going to introduce my three panelists the first panelist is miguel brigander the second is dr marianne lobo and my third panelist is rita schindler miguel briganza has completed his embassy agriculture in horticulture with distinction and is a former agriculture officer who now promotes organic agriculture by mentoring graduates in agriculture and biotechnology writing books weekly articles for newspapers currently in the navy time and his consultancy services he moderates discussions especially the sunday webinar series held every sunday from 4 pm to 5 pm for the general public on organic vegetables gardening and fruit cultivation we're absolutely delighted to have you here good afternoon and welcome again my second speaker this afternoon is dr marianne logo who's an ayurveda practitioner by profession but a nature lover by birth she enjoys her clinical practice by the call of nature but it's a preservation call which was really strong to resist for her and so the medicinal walks in the wild commenced she takes people on a journey in the wild reviving memories creating new ones through creative narratives enshrined with folklore and tradition creating recipes and which are good for the gut is her passion she enjoys adding local wild edibles available according to the season to daily diets constantly she loves to learn new things daily from her interaction with tribals and fathers welcome dr berryann and indeed a pleasure to have you amongst us my third speaker last metropolis is rita shendai she is our lady who hails from originally from velagoa a village in bispari where locals grow traditional vegetables in their farms and kitchen gardens peter is extremely passionate about food and cooking and go on cuisine in particular and has honed her skills from her mother as well as over the years herself by experimenting and being extremely innovative she started her culinary venture rita's gourmet in the year 2011 in dublin where she imparts regular cookery classes and some engaging culinary experiences to travelers who visit polar rita's gourmet was also featured in fox life in an episode of twist of taste anchored by master chef vikas khan rita was also one of the 12 participants who was chosen by maggie maggie nestle as women who are inspirational through the power of cooking the show maggi kitchen journeys which was aired on zee network living foods and anchored by actress raduka shahan rita believes in her slogan celebrate the joy of cooking since her passion has converted into a full-time profession she does not regret taking the voluntary retirement from her previous professional commitment of a central government job as a customs officer for over a decade rita is married into a maharashtrian so i must say we have an eclectic mix of speakers this afternoon and i'm so excited and i'm sure so is the audience and without much ado i'm going to request our first speaker miguel briganza to please tell us about monsoon leafy vegetables how they are grown and how does he see them as a peg for religions over to you thank you mini rivero for the introduction and what i'm going to tell you quite a few things i've learned from dr marian jobo's father mr francis burgess who initiated us to the white vegetables that were found around growing vegetables is something that we do during the months but more than that foraging for plants which give us vegetables is something that we do and we have quite a few vegetables that we pick up prominent among them is the kasia torah the dhobi bhaji which is related to our tamri bhaji the maranthus the white amaranth and we have of course the celosia the cockscomb type celosia argentum which you call as kuduchibagi of kuduki or peduki i'll just briefly introduce you to those plants so that you can see that screen sharing has been disabled it is enabled shall i share it you can share it also yes please i'm not able to see the screen you able to see it please are you able to see the screen please no i'm not able to see the screen anyway it's on the first side yes please i'm on the okay okay okay i'll tell you about it the amaranths are common in the market and also in the house what we get most commonly and use is the kuduchi bhaji of the kuduki which also helps to reduce the tendency for people to get diabetes it's part of the vegetables used for gauri puja it's on the third day of ganapati and also otherwise eaten during it's related to the body or the red amaranth which is common in india and also to the grain amaranth which was grown by the incas in latin america so this is a very important vegetable and has got good iron and vitamin c content next like this so the next vegetable that we have here is the kasia torah or the talculi which can be cooked by itself with maybe onion and grated coconut and it's a common vegetable to have foraging is done normally the top was two leaves it's a compound leaf it belongs to the legume families cessal penises so the topmost two tender leaves are normally plucked you can see in the picture on your left how it is being pinched traditionally you grab two fingers and then pinch it off with your thumbnail and pick it off and it's cooked in well almost all vegetables are cooked with grape so that also comes up over here you can mix it with the peas with the dull that strict peas or pulses or also with jackfruit seed that fruit seed void is very good and it's gluten free so jet fruit is something that's catching up now and being gluten free is very good for those who are gluten intolerant the number is rising all over the world and jackfruit seed is something that helps to go very well with your calculator the next vegetable that i'm talking to you about is not very common now it's related to the cucumber and the pumpkin and the bitter gourd or the karela but this is pogla and it is rare among the cooker bits because it is a perennial there is a root tuber which remains in the ground and which sprouts every monsoon you don't have to dunk it afresh every year it will come up in the jungle so maybe in your backyard and all you got to do is hours the fruit and cook it you can cook it as any other vegetable you can cook it along with meat but the best way i like it is to slice it very fine into rings and do it like bindi fry deep fried crispy very nice you won't eat any other chips if you eat this particular vegetable right now the way forward is to have these vegetables also in urban areas urban gardening is something that we have introduced for biotechnology students also in the cities so people can have urban vegetables cultivation including our traditional ones and excitements we have competitions and exhibitions for school students and high secondary students for the last 30 years in the aspect school in theory and that has encouraged a lot of students to participate to learn about and now with google the students can research and give you more information that you thought was possible or that you knew we also have exhibitions and sales as we have had in the comments or even in aspects or other schools and that's very useful next one is student to student transfer of information and skills of youth to youth and that is a rural agriculture work experience program with agriculture students you can see them showing how to grow vegetables organically and that is the way we will be able to preserve our tradition because we will be preserving our vegetables and vertical gardening is a sure option now okay if you even if you're living in a flat vertically with pots hanging into a frame you can grow vegetables both traditional and the new ones and you can have a good production in an apartment block our team always is there in the next slide it's team together everyone achieves more and if you have the schools colleges agriculture department i see all other institutions working together we can do much more so that is all i would like to say those of you who want more information that can contact me my contacts are there and thank you very much for the opportunity to present here we will discuss late thank you very much that was extremely interesting insightful apart from the fact that you shared so many details about the vegetables i think even giving us as little culinary tips as to how these can be cooked and served and how we can actually promote this you know with the youth and the younger generation so that we actually preserve these culinary traditions these vegetables are preserved and of course we can take this further that was extremely interesting and insightful and that really brings me to my next speaker dr marianne lobo and i'm going to request her to tell us a little more about this in terms of her books how she actually sees this as an opportunity in rural tourism and how these can be promoted over to you dr maria thank you so much mini this is a really wonderful opportunity that you have given me and i see it as an opportunity where we can present our local vegetables to a broader uh audience and a broader audience can get uh acquainted with some of the hidden vegetables as that are there in our rural areas and one of the ones that i would suggest that everyone you know take a partake in this monsoon season is clerodendron serratum or bharani as it is called in the local language now this particular vegetable grows rampantly in all plateau areas as well as hilly areas you will find them growing so much here in bhartis in talika uh in illiash and in so many areas even in the south now this particular vegetable is very good for coals coughs asthma okay it is one of the medicines also told in ayurveda but if you see the older generation harvested tender leaves of this vegetable okay and this vegetable is very tasty when you cut the leaves you just taste them raw it is a very nice and a spicy flavor you can add them to omelettes because that's a lovely way with which you can introduce it to children since they suffer from cold more often and you can also add them to soups to dals to sandwich and for those of course who like the nice option of how would you say having a different nutty flavor you can add jackfruit seeds to this vegetable the other one that i would say that can be really consumed during this rainy season is akurachi bhaji or the mangrove edible fern and i have a very special connection with this fern in the sense like the colors of it always intrigued me when i was younger and initially i didn't like the taste of this vegetable but as i grew up and i learned to enjoy the vegetables i realized that this vegetable was so nutritious now this vegetable is loaded with iron micronutrients okay and there is a lovely article written by a journalist food journalist called joanna lobo where she mentions a lot about this vegetable it's a worthwhile read you can go and read about it okay and this particular vegetable is also called as a christian origin okay and you can consume it along with prawns because that's how it tastes it requires a bit of a protein to enhance its flavor you can make a tonic out of it as it is called locally okay you can use it with prawns you can use it i have tried using it even with a little bit of tea cereal or mussels as you can see so this is something unique one can try mighty spice it if you are into a little bit of not eating spices it doesn't taste nice without spices it tastes good with spices for those who are suffering from constipation and fires this is a very good vegetable you can consume this even if you especially see that's why the rainy season abundance because this is the problem people get stomachache you get you know lose uh lose motions or constipation both of the two things can happen in rainy season constipation being primary okay so that's why you consume this it has micro nutrients that we all require during this month secondly also in the month of shravan you do not eat non-rich so this becomes as the substitute with which one can eat something that will supplement what is required the knowledge provides the body this vegetable will provide you with those basic nutrients that one requires the same with bharangi bharani is known to you know even help balance blood sugar so see the abundance of nature i mean how nature provides for us per season okay and another one that i would really uh encourage people to consume during this month and which i tell people in my walk is luthi chibaji okay which is an amorphous and this vegetable but it is consumed with a sarin agent so either tamarind and this is what cuts the itchiness that is present in this particular vegetable it is very famous in washi and in paneer surprising to see though it grows here in guam this vegetable all over again and also it has been found these words many people use in concrete so for the rejuvenation of the body even in the motif raging is used and also during this time people plant a lot of tube i am one who has been promoting a use of a lot of these yams because we have seen an increase in the it's a wide range of vitamins ayurveda gives more of you know dietary risk tells how we can improve our diet is available we can introduce this i just recently came across on instagram a restaurant in mumbai that is using purple yam and that is nothing but our diascoria elata they have used it in mainstream cuisine it was so encouraging to indigenous vegetable into mainstream cuisine and this is how i will say that you know if we can encourage our younger generation maybe in the form of in the form of grated chips something like that where they also get there may be some these vegetables and it's a lovely flavor lovely taste but some don't like then you give them chips you bring it out in a little different way you see how we can introduce these vegetables to the younger generation and then make them like it in the ways that they can you know so that is so much so i will touch i also started a food master class just very minor so to introduce these hidden vegetables in a way of cooking and how we can cook according to a lot of different things so introducing these vegetables into a very modern lifestyle also but trust me i am full on for the older generation style of cooking which includes cut cutters and corn outs and pass down from one generation to the other they have deep memories for me so these are the little vegetables that i could think of and share of course there are so many more like we have also uh which is also called as tumba now many do not know tumba gurus in the fields but tomorrow it is very good as a vegetable and it is very good for cold for those who suffer from sinusitis you can even remove the juice of it and consume it just like that or with room board if anyone knows or has heard of the cluster figs very few people use these vegetables nowadays and the cluster figs is actually one of the latin names of spiders globalatta but you know over the years many the species will use it like a sign that they can dig a whale or they will know there's a water source that is how we use now i i make a nice subject sometimes i use it in my cut cutting i try bringing different way a little vegetables into them these ways we introduce new vegetables which are new for the newer generation but of course the older generation knew about it you can also try to make a pickle you just get in touch with me and i love would don't mind sharing the recipe so this vegetables that i can think of during this rainy season and even during the later months the berries of goa are loaded so if you like it now robot can be planted you know in the suburbs all the areas of course we will have one in there the pancho church church to the right hand side if you're standing uh uh you're back facing the chest there's a lovely i take off it through foraging also and i can hand it over to you thank you very much dr mary and not only was it very insightful and interesting and informative in terms of the health benefits you know from an ayurveda perspective but i think the little tips and tricks that you've shared with us and i've learned so many new things i don't know about my other esteemed panelists but i've certainly learned a whole lot of new vegetables and they can be cooked in such exciting days thank you so very much for throwing light on this in such an interesting matter and with that i'm going to pass it over to rita shinde our gourmet cooking expert who's actually going to tell us exciting ways how these vegetables can be prepared cooked and of course her own childhood memories and other aspects thank you mini for having me today on this discussion of seasonal vegetables or the leafy vegetables it gives me immense pleasure to know mr mingle braganza and dr marian logo well i was born in due and brought up in this village of bohavelia the main occupation of the villages in gomovalia was farming and during the monsoons besides cultivating paddy the villagers would also cultivate or grow the seasonal vegetables most of you know the names bender gosali toshay uh p pri then the snake god or the bottle god and not forgetting sometimes tamari bhaji and dhobi bhaji as well but besides this i have to say that we are very lucky in goa to have these natural leafy vegetables that grow in abundance namely thai kilo as mr bingal has already mentioned thai kilo hebaji taro or it's also called as elephant ears because the leaf resemble elephant's ears and also the aku now just with the onset of the monsoon you can see the taro not sorry the not the terror but the thai killer and the kurukichi bhaji grown in abundance on the roadside and also in the plain areas or in the flat areas and these are ready for plucking the leaflets already within a span of 15 or 20 to 25 days they're almost there ready for plucking and as far as cyclone is concerned just the leaf the tender leaflets have to be plucked but as far as the kuduke bhaji or some people call it pedukeshi bhaji so the leaf as well as the stems are used and of course you can convert them or cook them into amazing or delicious dishes well that i can come to the later stage coming to the taro now taro you will find them or aruchi panna we call it in marathi or aruchipana this you can find on the roadside especially where there is this water water you call it and whether just a water stagnant water you will find them in big branches again big bushes but the locals they exactly know which leaf to pick up and from which area also to pick up because not all these are uh edible all these uh taro leaves are edible okay and coming to this now the akur of course they are grown in the fertile khazan mangroves i always relate ahur to gohan uh asparagus i always call it as bone asparagus okay now besides these vegetables that are grow or which grow in nature and free i would say just they just grow in abundance in nature it is said that at least once in the monsoon season you have to consume these vegetables so that most of the monsoon ailments that you may get or you tend to get is kept at bay or it helps to fight these ailments and i think it's a it's a fact that's and we have been consuming this in our young generation in the young days beside these leafy vegetables we also have now these are the vegetables that are grown maybe in the field or in the kitchen garden this chole is the uh cowpea is the yellow pumpkin that is the dudayaji paliyabhajis are tender stems of both these vegetables which are used to cook into this leafy and sometimes in most of these families most of the families in goa it's a must to cook these vegetables during travel during the ganesh festival it's a it's a must and coming to this voucher bhaji now wow chibaji is just it's grown throughout the year and i remember we have it in our kitchen garden 24 all all the 12 months of the year okay and i have a strong memory with this vauti bhajji my mom used to use this invariably in the soup and we used to have this sofa grass every day for supper and was very nutritious okay so and this is what i think we should keep the generation going as dr marian said and mr mingle also said we have to imbibe this into the younger generation coming to the the akura i have already said the muskaji moskachi paliya bhaji now mustachi is the moringa now i would say that muskachi paliya bhaji the green tender stem is the best to have during the rainy season because it's so tender and once you cook it as a with the dal or coconut it's so buttery and it's really delicious very soft and tender of course you can consume it during the entire year because it's always available and it's a very good it's a region antioxidant region vitamins and and also the it also helps to reduce the blood cholesterol and also the sugar levels this uh it is a very good uh vegetable likewise even the other the earlier leafy vegetables they are also lit region vitamins and minerals and that's the reason as i was saying that it helps to fight the ailments the monsoon ailments that you may tend to get them i'm not not forgetting the turmeric leaves or we call it uh of course we will not say it's a vegetable or half haldi panna and i i'm sure all of us know that we make that we make the pathologies out of the healthy chipana so i say why not make the savory version of patholi instead of the tsun and por why not we add some vegetables in that or for the non-vegetarian some non-veg stuffing inside that and i tried that and it's it really tastes awesome it's good i'll say and i'm sure you should try that you should try that and even the side cuttings of the pathway chipana i use it to flavor the kheer or gourche that we make in the mandos when we make mandos and it's really really delicious it tastes was a flavor of that and it has got lots of medicinal properties as well so these are some of the vegetables the leafy vegetables that we have to keep them and coming to as many said some recipes uh coming to the uh the tarot we make haruchi worry aloo worry so why not instead of aloo buddy also you can make shark okay like it's something like a curry uh with coconut ground in that and since it has got presence of calcium oxalate crystals with which tends to you tend to get the itchiness in the throat so you have to treat it or cook it with a souring agent like ambade or tamarind pulp even kokum is the best when you add to that and why not you make the body when you make the body have the worry with a nice hot hot cup of tea sit it on your ball count and have the gazali with a nice pouring rain on the sun on the sides when the rain is pouring you have a hot cup of tea with the worry and i think it makes big good sense right yes over to you mini thank you so much rita my god i must tell you i'm actually waiting for it to pour all over again and to try some of the suggestions and delicacies that you've detailed so well and you've actually bought it alive before her eyes won't my other panelists agree with me for that absolutely you've given us wonderful tips and such interesting information from all of you and now i'm going to request all of you to baby you know i'm going to ask you all some questions and then you can really have a discussion amongst ourselves and amongst the three speakers as well the first question is to dr maria dr mary and you obviously spoke about uh you know your the fact that you keep discovering these new vegetables as you go for these books medicine rewards and there is obviously a you know you are a treasure trove of information in terms of ayurveda and health and all of that how do you think that one can apart from these books get the younger generation really interested in something like this apart from what uh miguel has already told us you know from your student to student or youth to youth apart from these books how else do you think one can really get the younger generation interested in these so that they take this culinary tradition forward one of the unconventional ways that i will think of i always think of bringing the classroom out into nature so you know bring it there let them pick things up practice learn so that way you know you because when you go foraging you need to practice otherwise you can pick up something pick up sometimes some things that are not so pick things up and then teach them how to cook right there but the ways they like it these are some of the ways that i can think of another way of course that we could get them to do is of course make them observe the butterflies and the different things that help pollinate a particular flower of that particular vegetable so what happens you associate like with the clear dendron the broom hormone so you have like this you know you're teaching them varied things you're not just teaching them about vegetables you're also teaching them about the biodiversity you're getting them to love nature and this is what i tell because i'm very much focused at the moment now in preserving the biodiversity on the plateaus which are fast disappearing so how else to get and i keep the walks for children you know below five or below you know a little about that free so i want them to come and i have these placards and things like that so when we start like a quiz when a one-on-one session get them encourage them you know to ask questions so what i've had the feedback is the kids then tell their parents we want to go to the forest we want to go on the walks so not by with me or me even by themselves and this way they keep learning keep studying and i just love this talulah is also doing some wonderful work in the community classroom from what i have been seeing and you know learning and i really commend what is happening this is the way to take it forward with the younger generation thank you so much dr mary and i thought that was very very interesting not only getting them started but when they are so young getting them interested and giving things to them in the manner that they like so you're actually sort of inculcating that love for all these vegetables right from the time that they're really small and of course the fact that they sort of get to taste it in an interesting manner it's not that it's being thrust upon them in a next preparation which perhaps they don't like i think that's very very interesting and i'm going to ask miguel my next question how do you really think that these can be you know how can these vegetables how can they scale up their production and make them more accessible to other areas also because trust me i've actually come across some people in goa local people who are not even aware of all these vegetables i'm sure all of us are not aware of everything i'm not aware of all of them for sure but even others you know so how can we actually make them more accessible more visible so that more and more people realize that it's important to eat what is there in the season during the months the gallery people share some problems i think what we need to promote is sustainable collection of these vegetables and marketing today's world everybody everybody wants one of the two things or maybe both one is money the other one is grammar so if you can if you can add grammar to this sure right like what is not the traditional way you think out of the box make new dishes it excites people mama and grandmama cooks is passive if you can make some exciting things now then it's good and marketing we have been having this weekly market so organic farmers markets and such things when people can market they come with different ways of marketing the same things even the packaging may be tied with a strip of coconut leaf or maybe to tie it up with something else packaging in some other leaf all such things come up and we often just ignore the youth the youth are the ones who are capable of new ideas and we always say no no the new generation doesn't know anything that's between the age of 16 and 25 and they do things even i cannot imagine forget having done even what i cannot imagine they are able to do because they have greater imagination and what you can dream you can deliver so so that has been a very good thing and to give them glamour to give them prizes to give them appreciation and acknowledgement that works miracles we really don't have to do much we have to just appreciate what they can do and they will do much more that is my mantra for success wow i absolutely agree with you because i think that's a very very pertinent statement that you've made and one should actually involve the youth we typically people in our age group we tend to tell the younger generation or they don't know anything how are they going to know if you don't give them a free hand if you don't explore their ideas and as you very rightly said that they definitely have a much more you know vivid imagination so they can actually contribute to very very great ideas marketing of course plays a very very important role so i think a combination of these and i love the fact that you said that these kind of dishes which of course rita has given us an insight into should be reinvented the same curry the same dishes that we've been preparing vegetables if they're prepared in the same manner yes it's interesting and we are proud of our culinary traditions but if they can be reinvented to soak the modern contemporary palette i think that adds a very very interesting dimension i love the fact that uh how richard said that you know the patio can actually be with the kind of a savory filling you know that's that's so interesting to vegetarians who give them the seasonal vegetables to non-vegetarians you throw in some non-vegetarian elements also and lo behold you have everybody who is happy so it's not as if that you know if you don't like the usual jaggery coconut kind of a filling you can sort of dismiss it up and say no no i don't want to really try that so i think that's very interesting would you like to add to that yeah you can even i was just thinking as you were discussing now it just strike my mind as you you just strike my mind so why not the same the pathologist with the same leaf instead of cooking the meat or the prawns just marinate them raw the way how the momos are steamed yes and just steam them in the leaves so that the crunchiness remains for this non-veg of the prawns or or of the meat whatever meat is used and that you know that's uh amazing i think that's going to be a very good thing i think that yes you can try that so likewise as miguel already said most of these uh the traditional recipes we need to preserve them yes we need to preserve them for a future generation because they're really good you just add coconut and it's a beautiful dish that you get especially of the thai girl instead of coconut you can add dal turi dal or masoor dal just soak it and you can add that dal and just leave the little crunchy in the vegetable do not overcook it that then it comes a little soft okay then you could even add prawns dry prawns why not dry nuts and and then even fresh prawns yes make it with the dry prawns and fresh brown of course during the vegeta as dr marion said during the shravan month most of us are vegetarians uh veg so then you are you cannot add all this non-veg but yes you can stick to the that time you stick to our old recipes the mamas and grandma's recipes and but after that you can always give a twist and try the different recipes in that right we can always do that sure i have a question for anybody can answer or everybody can answer that please i was wondering how do you all think as panelists and working in this field that how can we actually peg rural tourism around these you know apart from walks of course that's a very very interesting way to take tourists you know was you know either in a home stay or around for these walks which dr marian is already doing so what are the other things you think how we can excite even people from outside goa to get interested in this you know they come to go and they think those typical four things the vandals and the chakris and the whatever else you know the prawn curry and fish curry and that is where go and cuisine ends but all of us know that's just possibly the tip of the iceberg really so how can these vegetables during uh monsoons for tourists who come in during the season which are plenty really how can we actually get them to be interested in this anybody who ever would like to start one point that came to my mind i may be right or maybe wrong is uh just get them to the walk as dr marion said pick the vegetables and teach them how to cook and let them taste it or eat it that's one way of just attracting attracting them so they know that okay now we are going to go and have a take a walk pick them get and then show them how the traditional way how it is cooked because most of the people in the north of india or even international tourists they do not know they don't have the taste of this especially the coconut in the vegetables correct they see any coconut in the vegetable but yes but then once you cook that and you give them to taste them they say yes that's that's amazing that's nice that's delicious so such some small small tips like that where you can cook and they get a chance to eat i think can attract the tourism especially the rural tourism the dry fish also how to cook that inside that these are the small tips because i take the walks in the market uh with the tourists who come for the classes because these are the things that the things which they do not get they do not have attracts them and they are really interested in that you know quietly say can we can we pick up the super banger or the drive we call it super banger and taste how it is or the doryara because dry prawns i think they do get many of them do the prawns but not these type of fishes so these small things they it may be a petty thing for us but for them it's something different that's nice they they really love that and it adds to the experience also i think exactly yes how do you all think we can involve the local community in these kind of activities and because the whole peg of rural tourism is that the local community should be involved and they should benefit from this women youth whoever does anybody have any thoughts on that we have involved all these spice farms and eco farms which are in a rural setting there are villagers around there who knows lots of dishes how they do we normally cook for ourselves for our own festivals and it's not open to public but if one or more of this could host a festival of food during the season then i think there's a lot of people who would like to come and eat today like we are going to have the gauri puja on the 12th of september most people don't know that you have to cook five different kinds of vegetables for gauri even among the hindus there are many people who don't know what called now if you had the food of the gauri puja as a festival in a eco farm and have it open to the tourists much better than raindrop tourism yes if you could have people also see what are the actually the vegetables which have gone into the cooking which are growing around in the village have a box have some activities on the on the ecotourism or spice farm they have a facility to sit down they have the facility to maybe go into the pool or into the river all these things can be made into an event it's an exciting thing to do we have had fest in envy where people went there so the casu is growing plucked eat the apple give the nuts for roasting eat the shelled nuts from there maybe even help to shell or juice drink the nero see how fenny is made so it's an exciting thing and you can do it with almost anything a year back i did not know what a bow was and my brother-in-law's daughter who's doing her msc in maths started making browse and marketing them on whatsapp and they were sold the same day it was around with home delivery during lockdown and 200 balls just go move like that so if you can do things like what uh rita was speaking about making the butter attacks but more like a mobile you just have to market it you just have to market it it catches the fascination of the people they may not eat it around the year but you can make your buck in a month's time absolutely so why not have a festival like this and with the tourists and with the foreign tourists definitely you can make it exactly i think that is such a fabulous suggestion miguel that's really really interesting and i think it's something which really needs to be executed and implemented sooner than later so that people are actually privy to our rich monsoon bounty and if it's marketed where if it is you know put out there in an interesting manner there is no reason why people would not really lap it up and add to the fact that you can actually get the local community involved because the local community are the ones who are growing we could get them to cook as you said in an eco-tourism kind of a you know setting i think it would make for a very very interesting tourism event i definitely think that uh the gtdc certainly needs to take note of that or maybe some of us food people need to take note of that and absolutely make it happen i think it was a fabulous suggestion dr marianne would you like to add to that were you saying something the same thing that i was saying you know these festivals have clicked like anything in [Music] and they have had such lovely because they got more involved urban people discovered new vegetables they discovered new that the entire situation really makes for it and if we could bring in uh situation suggestion like you know that that we get like things like momos give it a twist something wonderful so i think reinventing our local monsoon vegetables eating them in the season showcasing them in different manners with some very exciting recipes and tips which all of you have given involving the youth involving the local community and actually preserving our culinary traditions preserving our rich traditions of goa and of course keeping them intact as well making sure that we don't harm the uh you know environment and make sure that we preserve it and take it forward i think these have been very very interesting insights and information that has come out emerged after this discussion and i'm so very grateful to each one of you to take our time from your busy schedules and share this thank you so very much all of you thank you miguel thank you dr mary and thank you very much rita and it's been a pleasure interacting with all of you and i look forward to many more such meaningful discussions and i'd like to extend a warm uh great heartfelt thanks to all of you once again from the key role tourism council thank you so much for spreading the time thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you so much thank you have a good evening thank you

2021-10-25 04:40

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