'Food habit, culture inter-related'

 Caste, religion and region are closely associated with food habits from the very early centuries, opined Sharada College Principal Dr P N Maiya and added that the food habits and the culture are inter-related and have influenced the change in lifestyle of many castes including Brahmins.

He was addressing a gathering during the inaugural function of a one-day workshop on ‘Dynamics and dimensions of food culture’ at Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work in City on Tuesday.

“Up to tenth century, Brahmins used to have non-vegetarian food items. Ancient inscriptions throw light to the fact that Brahmins changed this habit in order to keep their cultural identity,” he said.

“The rise of Buddhism and Jainism, who follow vegetarian food habits, also might have influenced Brahmins to adopt the same,” he added.

Mentioning the Indian scenario, he said that thousands are still starving without having enough food.

The government fails to distribute the food through proper channel. At the same time, we could see that tons of food grains were rotting and dumped in sea. This is pointing towards the failure in implementing effective supply of foodgrains.

World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund and World Bank are trying to rule the world by destructing the agriculture sector and farmers. WTO demanded Indian government to take off the subsidy given for food to the common man.

Dr P N Maiya and School of Social Work Registrar (Evaluation) Dr L N Bhat inaugurated the function by making the ‘Semige’, literally.

School of Social Work Principal Dr Sophia Fernandes, Dr Malini Mukund, Prof Joselyn Lobo and Prof Cecilia Goveas were also present.

The workshop was organised by Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work BSW Department’s Sociology-Economics Forum.