Vanishing traditional foodstyles of Adhivasi people

By Amal HEWAVISSENTI

The traditional meals and typical foodstyles of wild tribes of Adhivasi Veddah people (Vannialaththo) have undergone pronounced changes under the process of persistent industrialisation. Truly but less obviously, Veddah parents are superbly conscious of their responsibilities to provide their children with best food they could get. Above all, the social life of Veddah people in a community bore all marks of higher integrity.

However much difficult it was for a family to get food (meat and vegetables) from the forests, they were often observed to share it with other families. The men were cruising the wilderness for venison, flesh of sambur (mach kana) and bee's honey (kadarnige diyathana), the veddah women were engaged in digging earth for 'kombi' (wild yams).

They used to cook food chiefly by roasting it over open fire or by boiling it in a pot. The chunks of venison and the flesh of sambur were sunned on a rock plane and smoked over fire to preserve them for periods of scarcity.

In most cases, Adhivasis naturally preserved meat whenever they missed out game or went deeper into the jungles in search of food for days. Most interestingly, they carved in a hole in a suitable tree and filled it with bee's honey and shredded meat.

Then they sealed the cavity with clay. Doubtlessly, the meat so preserved turned into fabulous product of appetizing taste and nutrition.

My friend, Pradeep Bandara, who had briefly researched the social aspects of Veddah people in Dambana recently, interviewed "Ran Menika" a middle aged mother with lots of 'food' experiences. Her recountings of the past foodstyles and unique recipes used during her childhood proved that current generation of Adhivasis has been lamentably denied the chance to enjoy their traditional foods. She was in an undertone of nostalgia when she spoke.

Porridge

"In good olden days, we used to make Kurakkan (millet) porridge and eat it with a delicious meat curry (often dried meat). We prepared the meat curry as 'Anama' (a semi-liquid curry).

Also, we highly enjoyed Kurakkan porridge as the staple food, with gravy of green gram or with pumpkin 'Anama' with meat curry.

We completely rejected beef, flesh of tortoise, flesh of peacock, fowl or flesh of porcupine. (We were allergic to flesh of porcupine). Instead, we the Veddah community highly preferred to eat venison, flesh of sambur, flesh of rabbit and pork, prepared in several patterns and recipes. During the hunting season, we ate lot of meat but it was limited only two or three meals a weak. Our favourite method of eating meat is roasting it over open flames"...

"We didn't eat rice at all. Our staple food consisted of kurakkan porridge, meat and varieties of yams such as "katuala", "konala", and "urala". I'm happy to say that we have the chance to find these types of yam in the jungle even today and we prepare them in various methods. We are not used to eating rice and curry.

No coconut

Adhivasis conspicuously reject coconut milk in the preparation of their typical curries but a fine blend of chillie paste and other spices were employed to flavour them.

They obviously exploit several ways to prepare meat. Usually they remove the skin and the unnecessary internal organs of the hunted animal and add a paste of curry leaves, chillie, tamarind or goraka into the body of the animal. Then the seasoned animal is roasted whole over embers of strong heat. Sometimes the flesh of the hunted animal is wrapped with its skin and is well roasted. Ran Menika described another recipe.

"Among the foods we prepared, a special dish made of meat and yam was popular among our community when we were children.

Our parents had a special ability to prepare it with the maximum taste preserved. First, the raw meat with blood is well mixed with parboiled Katu ala and Gonala.

Then the mixture is flavoured with chillies and spices and is cooked in blood. But today we have less chance to enjoy traditional foods such as these..."

"Simple sweetmeats have an important place in our traditional recipes. Those days our parents made a special sweet by roasting grains of maize over embers and mixing them with bee's honey. As far as I know, this is the most delicious sweetmeat invented by our veddah community..."

"We enjoyed a wide array of fruits such as wild mango, 'dan', 'palu', 'weera' and 'mora' picked in abundance from the jungle trees. However our fruits were the products of jungle. Moreover, we made rotti and porridge with the fruit 'Opool'.

The 'Opool' fruits are first soaked well in water and ground before a pulp is prepared in the initial stage. The rotti made from this pulp is tastier with venison curry. Apart from this the rice made from boiled grains of maize was also a delicious dish, we the Veddahs, enjoyed mostly in the past".

The current predicament The traditional foodstyles and recipes which have ensured a surprisingly healthy lifestyle and strength among veddah community in Dambana have, at least partially, vanished.

A complete meal of meat, grains, and fruit was the top secret behind the Veddah culture which characterised total freedom, developing strength and living totally with nature.

The rapid commercialisation, urbanisation and industrialisation have, by now, virtually jeopardised the foodstyles, the basic factor of their lifestyle.

In fact, the traditional recipes and food patterns in veddah culture basically guaranteed the total nutrition they needed for their physical operations.

At present no jungle rich enough to provide them with the most nutritious foods is available and veddahs have to make do with rice, manioc and grains such as maize or millet.

Kurakkan

A community that once displayed the practice or skill in preparing various dishes from kurakkan, has to buy packets of kurakkan flour from the shop. The paradox of veddah is that they have to eat bread with dhal curry or cook rice bought from the nearest shop.

Earlier veddah people, as Ran Menika said, had their own complete meal procured from the jungle but now they have to depart totally from foods they had enjoyed. Ran Menika said

"The civilised people clear our jungle and thereby hunting lost its place. We have to count on chena cultivation which we are hardly familiar with..."