DHARWAD: The first day of the two-day Tuber Mela organised by NGO Sahaj Samruddhi and Gandhi Peace Foundation at the Foundation’s premises near Bhagiini Samaj here on Saturday attracted large number of people.
Over 50 varieties of roots and tuber crops including potatoes, taro, cassava, sweet potatoes and yams are on display in addition to turmeric and immunity booster drinks from forest fruits.
The aim of organising this fair is to make the roots and tubers re-appear onto the plate, introduce nutritional value to wean people away from junk food.
Gynecologist and Gandhi Peace Foundation’s district unit president Dr Sanjiv Kulkarni said people often ignore many of the roots and tubers which are packed with vitamins and minerals, low in calories, and high in antioxidants.
Considered as the 'underground treasure' of Mother Nature, the roots and tubers are playing a significant role in food security, nutrition and climate change adaptation, he said.
Nutritionally, roots and tubers have a great potential to provide economical sources of dietary energy, in the form of carbohydrates. The energy from tubers is about one-third of that of an equivalent weight of rice or wheat due to the high moisture content of tubers, he added.
G Krishnaprasad, director, Sahaj Samruddhi said tubers play a significant role in food security, nutrition, and climate change adaptation. Several of these crops have been termed as being under-exploited and thus deserve more research input.
The focus of this mela is to sensitise the urban community towards the benefits of tuber consumption and explore more value addition and include them into the cultivation, Dr Sanjiv said.
More than 12 groups from Dharwad and Uttara Kannada have brought different kind of tubers, food items and value-added products for display and sale.
Apart from common roots like elephant yam and sweet potato, the mela has introduced cassava, different sweet potatoes, ‘ Neelkanth’ purple potato, purple yam, air potato, greater yam, black, green and yellow turmeric, mango ginger, arrowroot among others.
To facilitate people to include roots and tubers in their daily diet, a competition to prepare varieties of dishes using them is being conducted. Books on food recipes are also for sale.
