TRIBAL FOOD OF INDIA

PLACES OF TRIBAL HOMELAND IN INDIA

INTRODUCTION

India has the largest tribal population in the world. About 8.5 crore tribals live over the long corridors of Western, Central and Eastern India. Not only this, India's tribal population constitutes over 8 per cent of World's total tribal population of 100 crores Carved out of Bihar in 2000, many treasures of the relatively new state of Jharkhand situated in the Chota Nagpur Plateau is still less known to most people. Nature wears her best clothes in this state. Many rivers like the Damodar, Brahmani, Kharkai and the Subarnarekha, flow gently adding to the natural charm of Jharkhand.

Bhils are listed as Adivasi residents of the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan - all in the western Deccan regions and central India - as well as in Tripura in far-eastern India, on the border with Bangladesh. The Chenchus are a designated Scheduled Tribe in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Odisha. They are an aboriginal tribe whose traditional way of life has been based on hunting and gathering. The Chenchus speak the Chenchu language, a member of the Dravidian language family..

TYPES OF TRIBES

The tribes of India consist of 32 tribes inhabiting states i.e Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha,Gujrat in India. Classification was as follows:

›  Hunter-gatherer type — Birhor, Korwa, Hill Kharia

›  Shifting Agriculture — Sauria Paharia

›  Simple artisans — Mahli, Lohra, Karmali, Chik Baraik

›  Settled agriculturists — Santhal, Munda, Oraon, Ho, Bhumij, etc.

Other categorization is:

Primitives Tribes: Asur, Birhor, Birajia, Korba, Bhil, Korega, Mal Paharia, Sauria Paharia, Sabar, or Hill Kharia and Parahiya.

Other Tribes: Biga, Banjara, Bathudi, Bedia, Bhumij, Binjhia, Chero, Chik Baraik, Gond, Gorait, Ho, Karmali, Khadia, Kharwar, Khond, Kisan, Kora, Lohra, Mahali, Munda, Oraon and Santhal.

TRIBAL ARTWORK

Chhou mask - Chhou is a type of dance done with colourful masks. The masks are made of paper mache in Singhbhum district of Jharkhand Tribal woodwork - Jharkand is full of good quality saal forest and hence wooden artwork in the "should" of tribals. The wood is used for cooking, housing, farming, fishing etc. The tribal artists make beautifully decorative door panels, toys, boxes, and other household articles.Tribal Bamboo Artwork - The bamboo found in this area are different from bamboo of Southeast Asia. There is tourist place, Netarhat, which means a Bazaar of Bamboo.

Tribal jewellery - The tribal people particularly like jewellery. They use metallic ornaments made of gold, silver, brass, copper for their earrings, nose ring, bracelets, bangles etc.Godna - Tribals use ornaments a lots but the spiritual concept of ornament is very different. They believe that all ornaments are human made and are mortal. Tribal weapons - Bow and arrow is the symbolic weapon of the tribals of this area. Apart from this they use iron made Axes and Doulies and Ghana (Big hammer).Tribal metalwork-Most of the metal works are done for agricultural purpose, hunting and weapons. There are specific communities like Lohar, Malhar and Thentri have expertise in metal work.

TRIBAL FESTIVAL 

Sarhul is celebrated during spring season and the Saal trees get new flowers on their branches. It is a worship of the village deity who is considered to be the protector of the tribes. People sing and dance a lot when the new flowers appear. The village priest or Pahan fasts for a couple of days. In the early morning he takes a bath and puts on new a dhoti made of virgin cotton (kachha dhaga).

Karam-The Karam festival is a worship of Karam devta, the god of power, youth and youthfulness. Karam is held on the 11 of moon in Bhadra month. Groups of young villagers go to the jungle and collect wood, fruits and flowers

observed. 

Jawa-At the same time, the unmarried tribal girls celebrate the Jawa festival, which has its own kind of songs and dance. This is held mainly for the expectation of good fertility and better household.

Tusu Parab or Makar-This festival is mostly seen in the area between Bundu, Tamar and Raidih area of Jaharkhand. This belt has a great history during India’s independence movement. TUSU is a harvest festival held during the winter in the last day of Poush month. Hal Punhya-Hal punhya is a festival which begins with the fall of winter. The first day of Magh month, known as “Akhain Jatra” or “Hal Punhya”, considered as the beginning of ploughing Bhagta Parab-This festival comes between the period of spring and summer. Among the tribal people of Jharkhand, Bhagta Parab is best known as the worship of Budha Baba. The devotees pierce hooks on skin and get tied at one end of a long horizontal wooden pole, which is hanging on the top of a vertical Shal wood pole.

Bandna-Bandana is one of the most famous festivals celebrated during the black moon of month of Kartik (Kartik Aamavashya). This festival is mainly for the animals

Foods of BAIGA AND PAHAR TRIBE

The baiga takes coarse food and shows no extravagance in this aspect. They eat coarse grain, kodo, and kutki, drink pej One of the prime foods is pej that can be made from grounding macca or from the water left from boiling rice.Local people gave testimony that this food is much better and healthier than other food that they eat. They also eat BirarKand, Kadukand and other rhizomes. Mushroom is also a delicacy.Numerous fruits such as mango, char, jamun, tendu are also eaten. They hunt as well, primarily fish and small mammals.

MUNDA TRIBES

Places they inhabit :Munda tribe mainly inhabit in the region of Jharkhand, Although they are well spread in the states of West Bengal, Chhatisgarh, Orissa and Bihar. Munda generally means headman of the village. Mundas have remained hunters for centuries. But now they have been converted into the settled agriculturist. Mundas have been the animal eaters for the long time. They usually eat frogs, snakes, rats, earthworms, shells and snails. Festivals of Munda :Mage, Phagu, Karam, Sarhul, and Sohrai are the few festivals celebrated among the Munda tribes.

ll mammals.

  

Santhals Tribe

Places they inhabit : Santhals are the third largest tribe in India. They are mostly found in the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and Assam. Foods Santhals : Cultivation of rice is the primary source of food in their diet but the way of cooking and eating rice is different by Santals. After the rice is being cooked they don't pour out the water from rice instead, they take it whole and it is called 'Da Madi' in Santali, where 'Da' means water and Madi means for Food. With Da Madi, they mainly take green leafy vegetables which is either grown around their house or picked from nearby Jungle. They take non-veg food in regular basis which consist of  varieties of fish,frog,crabs,ants(e.g. Haaw in Fudu),rodents,birds,eggs etc.

BHIL TRIBE

The main food of bhil is maize.Wheat is used on special occassions and hospitality. Kura, Kodra, Batti, Sangli, Korang etc. are used as food.Roti of maize also called Sogra with Chattni, Green chilli or stitle and curd lassi is the famous food.Fruits are also a part of their diet.

GOND TRIBE

Places they inhabit : The Gonds are the tribal community mostly found in the Gond forests of the central India. They are widely spread in the Chhindwara District of Madhya Pradesh.The staple food of gonds is two millets known as Kodo and Kutki.Vegetables are usualy grown in kitchen gardens.or collected from forests.Gonds grow tobacco for smoking and make liquor for malhua tree.

KHASI tribe

Rice is the staple food of the Khasis tribes of India. They also cosume fish and meat and occasionally drink rice beer. The popular dishes of Khasis and Jaintia are Jadoh, Ki Kpu, Tung-rymbai, and pickled bamboo shoots; bamboo shoots are also a favorite dish of the Garos. They eat most non-domesticated animals, though their everyday staples are simple foods such as rice with kapa, cooked with a special ingredient called karchi which is made up of filtered ash water. Kapa can be of different kinds, such as with various kind of meats, vegetables, etc. 

GARO tribe

The Garos are indigenous people in Meghalaya, India and neighboring areas of Bangladesh.

They call themselves A·chik Mande .They are the second-largest tribe in Meghalaya after the Khasi and comprise about a third of the local population.The staple cereal food is rice. They also eat millet, maize, tapioca etc. Garos are very liberal in their food habits. They rear goats, pigs, fowls, ducks etc. and relish their meat. They also eat other wild animal like deer, bison, wild pigs etc. Fish, prawns, crabs, eels and dry fish also are a part of their food.

Wayanad tribe

Wayanad from kerala has its own distinctive cuisine using the ingredients locally available. It is very hot and spicy. The tribal food is something different from the normal cuisine. The food is a part of the culture of each community in Wayanad.   Only chicken, fish and tapioca are procured from Ernakulam. Ragi is a common factor in the tribal kitchen. Ragi puttu, ragi pakkavada and even ragi chicken fry are on the menu.

Chenchu people

The Chenchus are a Telugu speaking food-gathering tribe living in the Nallamalai forests of Andhra Pradesh in India spread over the districts of Mahaboobnagar, Kurnool, Prakasam and Guntur.Their staple food is a gruel of maize or jowar and boiled  or cooked jungle tubers. Chenchus love smoking and making tobacco cigrattes consumed by them.

Nomadic  tribe

The Nomadic Tribes and Denotified Tribes consist of about 60 million people in India, out of which about five million live in the state of Maharashtra For lunch there will be milk and "Ugali," a kind of polenta being made from cormeal and water. "Dinner is similar to lunch.It is clear though that meat features only rarely on the menu. The main part more than 50 percent consists of vegetarian food.

Mongoloid tribe

The people of the Mongoloid race of the North EastThe bodos, kacharis, rabhas, choodiyas, morans, duris, moshings and other tribals.They are animal eaters for a long time. Their usual food is frog, snakes, snails, shells, rats, earthworms, etc.They also prefer Tari and Harai wines.

MAIN INGREDIENTS USED IN TRIBAL FOOD

›  Bamboo shoot

›  Axone (fermented soyabean)

›  Anishi (dry colocasia stems and leaves)

›  Fermented dry fish

›  Samathu

›  Aikibeye

›  Akini(perilla seeds) Chokibo (snails)

›  Boiled Vegetables

›  Rice

›  Fish

›  Meat

›  Greens and vegetables

›  Spice

TRIBAL NAMES OF VEGETABLES   

FAMOUS TRIBAL DISHES

Biblography

›  www.google.com

›  www.youtube.com

›  www.tasteofnortheast.com

›  www.slideshare.com

›  www.wikipedia.com