A. Jayaprakash
“Globalization, in simpler terms means, global utilization; utilization of resources and services, no matter whose resources and what way one is utilizing them”.
Globalization has opened up innumerable avenues for making our life more comfortable and convenient. It is by way of exchange of markets, services, products, conveniences, technology, and opportunities that these days take a seemingly healthy and buoyant look. Of course, food is also a component that makes our life more comfortable and enjoyable. Are these exotic dishes that we devour every day going to let us enjoy this already comfortable life for long? It is a disturbing question indeed. If we look at the statistics on life style diseases, the answer to the above question is a resounding negative.
Since countries keep their borders open for commercial interaction, international food chains like Kentucky, MacDonald, Pizza and their domestic variants have started operating in the third world countries. These companies are but subsidiaries of a global capital culture and their aim is nothing but ‘capitalizing.’ They don’t look into the long-term effects of promoting an unhealthy food culture in countries such as India. They invest huge amounts in the market with a clear eye on profit, and in that pursuit, there is no room for social commitment, obligation of anything like that. Globalization in simpler terms means global utilization, utilization of resources and services, no matter whose resources and what way is one utilizing them.
Life is getting busier every passing day and time is in short supply. The number of people who relate time in terms of money is increasing and we do not have to talk about spending hours in the kitchen cooking age-old traditional dishes. The market outside our kitchens is full of eateries, restaurants, hotels, drive-ins and eat-outs. Their mouth-watering culinary creations are much more than what is needed to stop our kitchens from smoking. People, irrespective of age, are much better and cozy with tastes dished and spooned out by these outlets than with any oft-quoted delicacy we find in our tourism promotion brochures. When our dishes win foreign currency by way of tourism, a junk food culture silently, like a killer disease, eats away the very fabric of our culinary heritage. .
Our children don’t learn anything from their mothers’ hands. Our kitchens don’t smell food at all and, above all, our small kids don’t come around our dining tables. Rather they sit in front of the TV eating chips, choco-bars, wafers, lays and kur kureis. A burger with a cola, a Kentucky with a little sauce, a pizza followed by what it takes with it is more prestigious and image-promoting than a cuppa and meen curry or idli and chutni or dosa and sambar. This is a state of mind that has been created by these international food peddlers. We are addicted, addicted chronically to additives and taste boosters.
What would happen to our culinary boasts like Meen curry, Olan, Kaalan, Aviyal, Sambar and rasam after a few years? Are they going to be seen as specials only during Onams and Sankranthis or are we going to customize them for occasions like marriages and similar social functions? Our food culture is dying out of hunger, hunger for healthy habits. We are dying of more and more filling foods. Our Puttu, Appam, Idiyappam, Paper/Nei/Masaala and Onion Dosas are fast becoming Indian kitchen museum pieces. Yes, there is a positive side to it. We can market them by creating a new tourism genre called kitchen and culinary tourism. We may display our three-piece ovens, shell spoons and spatulas, earthen dishes and cups, pans and potteries and why not our chinaware, chimney sills and exhaust holes.
Consumerism takes a new avatar in this food scenario. Supermarkets are showcasing tinned, frozen, packed, cooked, semi-cooked, processed and ready-to-serve food items in large varieties and quantities and these difficult-not-to-buy food packs are helping housewives save plenty of time in their life. This lease of time unfortunately is now being wasted in front of the TVs watching programmes sponsored by these multinational food giants. It is TV commercials we watch more than TV programmes. This leads to what we call sedentary lifestyle diseases.
This avatar of modern commerce takes the life, culture and the healthy eating habits of our country by making us believe that we cannot live without their products. How about our products? They are desis. So they lack colour, prestige and value. We don’t produce. We don’t promote. We simply consume our own health and healthy eating habits, and we prestigiously end up in corporate healthcare facilities. There is a saying, ‘you are what you eat’. And now we are what we eat. Junk. A little food for thought is here for all I believe. jaypeesukhakm@gmail.com
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