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| Sunday, 4 January 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Manawa Organic Food Restaurant : Tingling taste of the organic by VIMUKTHI FERNANDO Imagine the painful and scary incident of being bitten by a snake! And then being offered a plateful of rice and curry to detoxify the body!! Fairy tale? Far from it.
Over 150 indigenous varieties of rice, pulses, yams, vegetables and greens now come to your table in a myriad of tasty and traditional preparations of the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities. All this and more are offered at affordable prices, at the Manawa Organic Food Restaurant, a haven for the health conscious and the vegetarian, as well as the one who knows the palate tingling tastes of freshwater fish. Location Within easy reach is its location and the prices. A small restaurant situated along the Colombo-Kandy main road at Tholangamuwa, three kilometres from Nittambuwa junction. The big difference in this restaurant is that the food you taste there are not exposed to any harmful chemicals - be it fertilizer, weedicide or pesticide. It may be the first and the only restaurant so far, in Sri Lanka which offers food completely free of chemicals.
It is a venture of the farmer community itself. Of the few who were 'swimming against the current' in their own words. It was not an easy task. But, in a world of bumper harvests and instant results, these farmers belonging to the National Federation for the Conservation of Indigenous Seed and Agricultural Resources (NFCISAR) held on to tradition, and indigenous knowledge, living in harmony with nature. And now they have come to fore, with the support of the Manawa Centre for Human Development (MCHD) in Tholangamuwa showing their might in offering meals that is not available anywhere else in the country. Set menu They are not only free from chemical fertilizer, pesticide and weedicide, the food varieties available in this restaurant are also rich in medicinal and nutritional value, say Ayurvedic doctor D.A.J. Abeygunawardene from Matara. The aim of the management is to offer a balanced diet with enough nutrients to sustain the day, says H. Podinilame, Director MCHD. The set menu, at any given time - be it breakfast, lunch or dinner consists of about 14 to 15 different preparations. While rice, pulses, yams and their flour based preparations such as pittu, roti, dosai and idly are offered as the staple, many a different preparations of vegetables and fish top it with soups/rasam, pickled, dried, fried and seasoned tid-bits to spice it up. A variety of desserts ranging from the traditional kiri-peni to wadai, murukku, kevum, kokis and the favoured fresh fruit are also on the menu. Kolakenda and osu-pen (medicinal drinks) prepared out of over 70 plant varieties, and fresh fruit juice are other specialities of this restaurant. All this in the set menu is offered at "Rs. 50, a very affordable price for our objective is to develop a healthy nation through promoting consumption of organic food," says Podinilame. Different dishes are available a-la-carte. Traditional recipes "The food is prepared according to traditional recipes, by farmer people from different communities for this is an effort of the farmer community of all ethnic identities," says Podinilame. MCHD's involvement with the farmers in the North and East as well as the deep South makes it possible for the restaurant to get the provisions from different parts of the island on a daily basis. Not only the supplies, but also the variety of recipes and demonstrations on preparations also come through the same network. Provisions The visitors who with to try out these menus on their own are offered an opportunity to buy the necessary provisions and to explore their medicinal and nutritional values at the adjoining sales outlet. The restaurant and the sales outlet managed by qualified staff also offer opportunities of training for the village youth interested in the hospitality trade. ######## Rice : shell-pink to perfect circle They are as different as the people who grow them. Fair and dark, short and tall, fat and thin. Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim. From the coast and the hill country, wet zone, dry zone, areas which get submerged in water for two months of the cultivation season and areas which face drought for six months of the year.
Where are they from, these different varieties of rice? They are the many indigenous varieties of rice in Sri Lanka. Preserved by staunch farmers engaged in the conservation of indigenous seed, agricultural resources and practices in an area of about 2,000 acres along with other traditional crop varieties. Sri Lanka, a bio-diversity hot-spot with over 3,368 flowering plant varieties of which 26% are endemic, according the Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources, now boasts of over 150 different indigenous varieties of rice itself points out the National Federation for Conservation of Indigenous Seed and Agricultural Resources. Though their member base exceeds 1,500 farmers and is spread throughout 19 districts, there are farmers who are yet to join the Federation, says Hemantha Abeywardene National Organiser/Convenor. The Federation is an aftermath of a research conducted by Helvetas Sri Lanka, a non governmental organisation, says Lionel Seneviratne, National Coordinator. The research on sustainable farming systems through traditional plant genetic resources and indigenous knowledge based practices conducted through the Manawa Centre for Human Development (MCHD) in Tholangamuwa brought out a network of farmers engaged in organic farming and preservation of indigenous plant varieties, Seneviratne points out. The Federation, which was established in 2001 initially under the aegis of MCHD became an independent entity by 2002. Organic farming is a must for the members of the Federation, a prerequisite for membership. Their objectives are to promote organic farming and indigenous crop varieties through the length and breadth of Sri Lanka, through sustainable use and conservation. And now, the Federation's responsibilities include maintenance of a data base of the traditional rice and other crop varieties grown by its members, says H. Piyasena In-charge of the Seed Bank. Rath-del, suwandel, suduru samba, kalu heenati, kurulu thudu, maa vee are some of the rice varieties in stock he points out. While rath-del, a shell pink, small and fragrant variety of rice is supposed to increase spiritual properties of a person and is an essential part of offerings at the Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth). Maa-vee and el-vee are reserved for the consumption of young children and pregnant mothers. Heen-heenati, is used in healing bone fractures and kalu-heenati for detoxification, he explains. His personal collection, includes 37 varieties of yam. If one adheres to organic practices, one does not have to use chemicals at all, say the farmers. Reduction of pests and weeds is integrated into the traditional farming mechanisms, they explain. However, the problem they face is the marketing of the produce. Though the products are rare and nutritious, the values and benefits are not yet accepted in the society they complain. Organic farmers have to compete with those products grown by chemical use and sell at similar rates as well. However, with the opening of the Organic Food Restaurant, they have established a marketing centre, a one stop shop where products from rice, cereals, yams, vegetables, fruits, spices upto organic tea and organic manure are available under one roof. The Federation in collaboration with MCHD plans to establish sales outlets and restaurants in other areas as well. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
It was very much in line with the Ayurvedic practices and treatment
that was practised in Sri Lanka, for thousands of years. And now, you also
have the opportunity to taste the very same varieties of food that stood
the testing of time for aeons and proven for their high medicinal and
nutritional value.
A variety of rice in its various colours, shapes, sizes and fragrances.
From pure white to golden, shell pink and dark red; elongated to that
which forms a perfect circle. From that which is over one centimetre in
size, pre-cooked to that which looks like sand and does not exceed three
millimetres even after cooking. All were on display and some in their
respective panicles as well.
