It was an enjoyable treat, to state the least. I was invited to a Wild Food Festival organised at Vile Parle which turned out to be more wholesome than what I had expected. Apart from fulfilling its basic promise of bringing wildly exciting food to the table, it was more of a Sunday well-spent in the company of food activists, agripreneurs, farmers, chefs, food grain experimenters, snack chain operators, journalists-turned-food bloggers, food enthusiasts, and most importantly children (of varying ages) who tasted a zapping variety of 25 unheard-of vegetables which even their parents hadn’t known about. Phodshi, Gharbandi, Kakad, Kurdu, Keni, Khurashani, Chai Vel, Pandha, Chichudi — vegetables whose names are not part of the everyday lexicon, and neither are their nutrients known to the urban consumer.

I have attended many organic food ‘festivals’, where the spread is limited to ragi-jowar bhakris, bamboo shoots and mahua confectionaries. Social media is put to innovative use to boost the visual appeal of such fests. That’s precisely why I was not sure of how many actual varieties I was to encounter at the Wild Food festival which promised to showcase native cuisine of Maharashtra from the Palghar (Jawhar taluka) and Ahmednagar (Akole taluka) tribal belts.

The festival, fortunately, lived up to its claim of showcasing 85-odd vegetables (a limited part of which was kept for initial tasting), of which a chunk was used in the lunch served to those who signed up for the experience! OOO Farms, BAIF and OrganicWe deserve kudos for getting the attention of 250-odd Mumbaikars on a rainy Sunday morning. Also they should be congratulated for bringing in women cooks (Warlis, Koknas and Mahadev Kolis) who not just prepared the delicious meal, but also spoke on the occasion about their positive bond with Mumbai.

Apart from getting inhabitants who hail from the tribal region, the festival was also successful in roping in other stakeholders who work along parallel lines. Most importantly, Sanjay Patil who is the thematic program executive at BAIF shared rich stories. He works on the indigenous crop diversity and wild food resources conservation program in Jawhar, Akole, Junnar, Etapalli, Dhadgaon and Kudal. He spoke eloquently on the need for people to value the native wisdom of the farming community. He also advocated the urgent need to build on the existing indigenous knowledge, and to lessen the gap between urban and rural consumers. The super-approachable and forever-sharing Patil is a great asset for anyone seeking new beginnings in food conservation matters.

I was happy to meet actress-friend Geetanjali Kulkarni who works with husband (actor Atul Kulkarni) in the Wada taluka, as part of Quest, a research-action organisation concentrating on enhancing elementary education in rural pockets. Her core work in Wada complements the sentiment of the Wild Food Festival. Similarly, Satyajit Hange of Two Brothers Organic Farm and star chef Thomas Zacharias of Bombay Canteen added their insights. Hange stressed the need to bring the farmer at the centre of the discourse; he also shared his story of raising a farm at Indapur (Pune district) which produces organic fruits and breeds indigenous cows. Zacharias spoke about his efforts to blend the native produce in modern-day urban snacks and meals. His combination of shevli (often termed as toxic and itching) with kakad evoked awe. Similarly, he said some vegetables which are slightly bitter in taste, should not be written off immediately. Bitterness can be rounded off with a concoction that helps in retaining the nutrient, he pointed out. I was tempted to go for the Mohua toffees he mentioned, as an alternative to chocolates. The Mohua halwa and sweets served in the lunch, however, put me on a new ‘high’!

The best part of the Wild Food Festival was the fact that it was not just about eating exotically-named relatively unknown vegetables made by tribal women, but the festival encouraged a sharing that was deeper. It aimed at awareness of the vegetation that Mumbaikars do not necessarily factor in. If we travel a few kilometres away from the city (passing through villages in adjacent districts like Pune, Nasik, Palghar, Thane, Raigad) we can experience the natural local produce, some of which was showcased at the Wild Food Festival. Many of these vegetables (ran bhaji) are not consciously grown or farmed. They grow wildly, without much care. But they are rich in nutrients — some highly fibrous, some suffused with antioxidants and some calcium-rich. We cannot be unmindful of the seasonal riches we have been blessed with!

For me, the festival had another personal dimension — I reconnected with my college friend Shubha Prabhu Satam, who has now turned into a food writer-columnist-experimenter. Her instagram account Masala Maharani reflects the wondrous recipes of her kitchen. Vivacious as ever, brimming with energy, Satam has done well in bringing many seasonal wild veggies into daily eating regimen. A fan of most wild vegetables, she particularly revisits the preparations of Phodshi, Khurashani and Keni Kurdu, especially the chicken stir fry (Thai style) using Keni Kurdu leaves! Below is the image capturing her Kurdu with groundnuts!

Food makes us what we are; we are what we eat! If this is a truth we know and value, we have to make efforts to eat right. The Wild Food Festival can be a beginning in this direction. I hope each one of us gets opportunities to taste our forest wonders and I hope the green foliage is protected for this reason too!