The project supports Adivasi youth training on wild foods from women experts at the Forest Food Field School in Adukkam, India. The scholars will learn to identify, document and harvest nutritious food from the wild, prepare meals from forest resources, and grow and maintain their own food gardens for food resilience. For as little as $15, help preserve this traditional knowledge from Adivasi elders so that the youth are able to carry on the old tradition of healthy diets from the forest.

Challenge

Forest foods from the wild are often neglected due to the lack of knowledge on identification and harvest techniques, processing, cooking/recipes, and the nutritive values of these plant foods. Such knowledge gaps deprive people of freely available foods that can complement what they buy in the market and add essential nutritive elements to their diets. Youth and elders in villages play an important role in strengthening these traditions. Interactions between generations need to be facilitated.

Long-Term Impact

Beyond the training, the youth can apply the knowledge they learned in setting up their own wild food gardens and mentoring other youth to cultivate their own gardens. Youth and elders' relationship in villages will be improved. The exchanges of ideas and knowledge will contribute to the rejuvenation of forest food traditions among Adivasi communities who have been on the verge of losing such knowledge due to difficult access to forests, modern education and the intrusion of mainstream foods.

References

1. http://www.ntfp.org
2. https://ntfp.org/
3. https://ntfp.org/2019/10/wild-tastes-in-asia/
4. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KQu0-pkIG2Eg4EePFDEBeJPNLbRgT1ml/view?usp=sharing

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