Going slow on fast food

The city is rapidly becoming the slow food capital of India, even though the numbers are relatively small.

The Slow Food movement is probably little known by most people in India. But internationally, it’s a fairly well-developed movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986 which seeks to preserve the traditional cuisine of an area and encourages the farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem.

The “slow” in the name is, thus, an alternative to fast food. Slow food is also inextricably linked to organic food, but with a caveat — it also has to be food that doesn’t leave a large carbon footprint enroute to your plate.

 

“There is no agriculture any longer but agrinomy,” says Aruna Kalahastri, Director Projects, Bhoomi Networks, an NGO into education and training aimed at sustainable development.

Traditional Indian food habits were based on changing climates and the different crops that grew in the different seasons. So the food habits were adapted to natural cycles. There were 5,000 varieties of food just 100 years ago. Now there are just 9-11 varieties.

Incidentally, Bangalore has come to be the slow food capital, even though it is very miniscule a movement, if it can be called one. And leading it is Era Organic, promoted by H R Jayaram, who is a farmer and lawyer to boot. Explaining the idea behind the concept, Jayaram says, “This is the next stage of organic foods. Organic food is generally less eco-friendly because it often leaves a bigger carbon footprint.”

The weakest link in the slow food movement is the supply chain. There are now 500 farmers who have logged into the movement. They are cultivating ragi (millet) because consuming the locally-grown grain which had once been a staple for people of this region, has come into focus. Through Green Path, Era’s restaurant venture started around a year ago, Jayaram is making products such as chocolates and biscuits made from ragi.

Jayaram has also been trying out a balcony garden at the restaurant in which to grow some of the foodstuff that are served in the restaurant.

But he has other plans up his sleeve. There is a plan for two Green Hotels. One will come up on Sukrushi farm on the outskirts of Bangalore in Nelamangala and the other in Kodagu. In Kodagu, Jayaram owns about 100 acres. Green Grand Estates is coming up on a 70 acre estate in Coorg where coffee and spices are being cultivated organically. Jayaram aims to offer tourists here the experience of “Eco-stay”. “We are creating an eco-friendly resort amidst the lush green of tropical evergreen forests and coffee plantations,” says Jayaram.

Green Path promises to serve all things organic in these resorts and hotels. The objective is to ensure that as little energy as possible has been spent on putting the food to the table. Zero mileage is the aim of the company.

Organic foods used to be about double the price of the normally-grown food, Jayaram says. Transportation costs and other energy costs were built into them. Today it’s priced only about 25 per cent to 30 per cent over the other foods. This has ensured that the popularity of organically grown foods is rising. In turn, this has meant that the number of farmers taking to this type of cultivation is on the rise, and this is sending the prices of these organic foods down south.

Speak to him and you realise Slow Food is a counter-culture that is being promoted.