(Delicious) Food for Thought

Yesterday was amazing, there is no other way to put it. We went early to Karambayam village to meet with one of the community health workers- we wanted to see how women cook in the village as part of the research for our proposed interventions, as well as just out of personal curiosity. One of our instructors, Ravi, and one of the ICTPH workers from Thanjavur accompanied us to the woman's tiny, concrete hut with a woven palm frond roof. We crouched inside and were asked to sit on a blanket at the back of the house near the 4-ft.-high back door opening. We could see right away a cooking apparatus carved from earth- 2 circular openings with space on one side for wood to be inserted for making a fire, with holes to place the pots just above the flames. A similar stove apparatus made of stone was in the woman's house as well. We were excited to watch as she prepared rice and proceeded to cut vegetables on a hook-like blade branching off of a wooden plank- she chopped mangoes (part of which we were allowed to eat, so good!), tomatoes, onions, potatoes, eggplant, and "drumstick" (a long tube-like vegetable). At the front of the same plank to which the hook-blade was fastened was a metal, ridged, spade-shaped device- I was intrigued by it and happy to see it in action as the woman proceeded to take half of a palm coconut and rub the inside against the device, creating tiny grated pieces of coconut. She was able to grate every last bit of the coconut out of its shell- a very efficient tool. Next, the woman proceeded to crush cumin, fennel, and other spices with the grated coconut, onions, and garlic, using a 10-pound stone tool resembling a fat rolling pin. She rolled the tool over the spice mix across a flat stone surface, creating a finely crushed mixture that smelled incredible. Meanwhile fresh tamarind was soaking in a bowl of water- this water was later added to the curry for extra citrusy flavoring. All of these items were mixed together with the other vegetables, oil, and heaping teaspoons of salt (we were sure to observe how much for our research) in a metal pot over the second fire pit in the stove. As we waited for the food to cook, an elderly woman accidentally let two chickens into the house, creating an entertaining commotion as they flew/climbed through my hair to get out the backdoor. We tasted some of the crushed spices and I was pleased to hear and taste that none of them contained salt- the only salt included in the meal was the iodized salt itself- and thus we knew what to measure to see how much an average meal contains. We also asked the woman how much her family of 4 consumes in a week, and were a little shocked to find the amount to be exceptionally high. But this didn't distract us from the pleasure of sharing the incredible process and flavors of a truly fresh meal. Once the rice was finished, the woman placed it on a banana leaf and brought out steaming bowl of curry to accompany it- we just had to taste it! It was the most amazing curry I have ever consumed, especially the eggplants fresh from the garden!

After this wonderful experience we were invited to meet with the secretary for some of the Karambayam self help groups- women's groups that are organized around the desire to save money for small business ventures such as tea stalls (small shops). The concept is aimed at empowering women to learn about finances and take initiative to support themselves and their families through microfinance. In the Karambayam area, there are 35 groups of around 20 women who all contribute a small amount monthly to a savings account, and then their shares are matched with government loans for individual or collective business ventures, as well as small emergencies, transportation to events, or other incidentals. The secretary of the self help groups was happy to meet with us and give us some helpful feedback about how these groups might be willing to help us raise awareness about hypertnesion management through small dietary changes- it sounded very promising. After our meeting we were directed to the back of the house to see a woman cracking crabs by hand- she insisted that we hold them and take pictures. It was comical and fun to say the least.

At the end of the day we were able to meet with the village Panchayat President (a local government leader) in Ambulapatti (a village very close by) to briefly discuss our idea and ask for her support. She expressed support for our work and invited us back to visit again.

All in all, this was my favorite field visit- both educational and inspiring, and reminding me why I am here.
Next up: a trip to see how they clean the local water supply tanks! Interesting tales to follow.