SHILLONG: December 10 has been celebrated world wide as Terra Madre Day for the last six years. It is marked by celebration of traditional, local and indigenous food mingled with the joy of sharing it. This year small groups from Meghalaya belonging to the NESFAS family will also join in on the convivial.
In keeping the Terra Madre Day, the school children and teachers of Lairsluid LP School – Ribhoi organized a cleaning drive in and around the school premises on the on December 6. It was a simple gesture to remind them about keeping mother earth clean and beautiful. The school children also planted around 20 tree saplings of 3 local varieties – Diengngan, Diengjalawan and Diengsohemi around the school. The day ended with an eat in, where the school teachers contributed local rice from their respective paddy fields and fresh mustard harvested from the garden grown and maintained by the children of the school.
The entire celebration was self sponsored with resources available locally.
NESFAS observed the day by organizing an eatery with foods cooked with local ingredients. In Mawphlang, a tasting exercise will be conducted on the December 11 with Mawphlang Lewis Orphanage for boys. Some of the boys of the orphanage have been involved with NESFAS in an initiative that involves training in basic culinary skills developed over the last one year. The children there will be involved in a cooking class demonstration based on the theme of Mother Earth.
