Raisa Daimary recounts the experience of 12 undergraduate students gastronomic trip to Meghalaya that NESFAS had facilitated
FROM FEBRUARY 16-23, a few of the rural communities of Meghalaya played host to 12 undergraduate students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UniSG), Bra, Italy, who were on an academic tour. The visit was facilitated by Shillong-based North East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society (NESFAS) that belongs to the Slow Food fraternity.
The UniSG was founded in 2004 by the international non-profit association, Slow Food. Its objective is to create an international research and education center for those working on renewing farming methods, protecting biodiversity, and building an organic relationship between gastronomy and agricultural science.
As part of the schools’ philosophy to learn more from people, students are given the opportunity to combine their theoretical understanding of food and agricultural systems with hands on experience in food systems through various study trips also known as stages. These gastronomic stages around the world unveil not only the academic theory behind these food systems but stretch to incorporate the more intrinsic values and peoples’ every-day lives from farmers to small scale producers.
This visit gave the 12 students the opportunity to explore the bio cultural diversity existing in the small scale agrarian set up in the rural settlements of Meghalaya. “It is best to learn from the practitioners themselves”, was the mantra they took with them when they marched on, to the villages.
The tour was one of the two types of exposure programmes that the university provides for its students. Labelled as ‘Territorial’, the first type of study encompasses every subject within the gastronomical context that the students may encounter in the place they visit. The second, known as the ‘Thematic’ study, is product centric and aims to cover only a given theme or topic.
In order to understand the gastronomy of Meghalaya, the students journeyed through the Iewduh or Bara Bazaar to understand the socio-cultural dynamics of market systems and received a historic overview of the market place. They then continued into the sacred groves of Mawphlang where they witnessed and studied the belief systems of the Khasis that have for long maintained the ancient forest. They also dwelled upon the concept of understanding traditional healing practices and were inquisitive about the incorporation of the plethora of medicinal plants available to the local herbal healer there. They later visited the village of Khweng for two days to understand the various initiatives that NESFAS has taken up in the field and to study the practices that communities are engaged with.
Students reported that their experiences in the village were interesting to say the least. “What I liked most about this trip was to experience it with all my senses; the smells, the sounds, the sights and the tastes”, said Allesandra De Lure, 2nd year undergraduate student, UniSG. It was not just looking at a certain set of practices that they found interesting, but they were surprised to see the concept of ecological balance being put into use in holistic manner. They visited beekeepers, rice growers, local cooks and fisher folk. The students were given the opportunity of engaging with two NESFAS activities, the biodiversity walks and the eri weaving production. Interestingly, the biodiversity walk yielded a collection of gathered wild produce that was cooked by the students together with the community as part of a cross-cultural celebration. They got hands-on experiences at seeing the rearing, spinning and weaving of the unique eri-silk production in Khweng.
Federica Pozzi, the coordinator of the stage, reiterated the uniqueness of this particular stage was the sheer sight of seeing how grassroots communities interact with their immediate ecology in a holistic manner. She said, “To know that the locals still maintain their practices on traditional medicine, agriculture, culinary art, handicraft and handloom by employing resources that are within their immediate ecology is a testimony to the rich biodiversity that they have preserved. It is needless to say that NESFAS plays an important role in not only linking this process of preservation but in promoting it as well. This trend has been an eye-opener and fits it very well for the upcoming Indigenous Terra Madre as it will serve as an encouraging example for delegates attending.”
The student’s journey ended with a trip to the living-root bridges in Nongriat where they were fascinated by the concept of an eco-friendly bridge that was engineered by the communities a long time ago and is used even today. “For us, something like a bridge made of roots stands as a stark reminder of how communities have long utilized their resources in a good, clean and fair manner,” said Alice Fasso, 2nd year undergraduate student, UniSG.
NESFAS is known for its unique approach towards agriculture which, rather than being centred on the volumetric production of food, focuses on the intrinsic values of fair food and responsible production, going as far as the practicality of indigenous knowledge systems and the socio-cultural identity of each community it works with.
The presence of the students in the communities also brought out the beauty of intercultural exchange of food and fun. The communities welcomed the young students to their homes and work places while the students were curious though respectful of the local sensibilities at the same time. The learning experience was only enriched by the apparent mutual appreciation and friendships that were forged.
NESFAS took this as a learning experience to better understand the minutiae to host delegates in the coming Indigenous Terra Madre 2015, a gathering of indigenous communities from all around the world which will be hosted by NESFAS and around 40 communities in Meghalaya. The tour has provided an example, albeit in a much smaller scale, of what a foreign delegate may require in terms of food, homestays and other particulars.