Sustainable food habits of the hill-dwelling Kandha tribe in Kalahandi district of Orissa

Abstract

An ethnobotanical survey of food practices of an aboriginal, hill-dwelling Kandha tribe of Kalahandi district, revealed that in addition to their conventional foods, rice, finger millet and a few popular pulses, they use many types of naturally occurring unusual additional food items such as carnals of mango, several types of tubers of the genus Dioscorea, wild bean Mucuna utilis Wall. ex Wight, Madhuca indica J.F.Gmel. flowers, Caryota urens pith, Tamarindus indica seeds, younglings of bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) and wild mushrooms. Detailed methods of processing of these items are unique and bitter tasting chemicals (alkaloids) of these food items are removed by repeated boiling and discarding the boiled water.