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| Thaalis from Indian regional cuisines. |
What are IFOD (Indian Food Observance
Days)?
Indian traditional culinary practices
evolved and transformed over time as our cuisine evolved. Ingredients, their
uses, cooking methods, food combinations, a seasonal food calendar, Indian
dietetics, and dining etiquette, traditional practices have all been built into
the Indian culinary system with sound reasoning behind them. However, all of
this knowledge is orally passed down through generations. And we are losing
touch with more and more. This is where IFOD come in. Around the world, special
observance days dedicated to food, called ‘food days’ are celebrated. These pay
tribute to specific ingredients, foods, dishes and cuisines. India, despite
being home to a rich culinary tradition, had few such days. The IFOD calendar
is an initiative begun in 2016 to fill that gap.
IFOD or Indian Food Observance Days
follow the traditional annual food production and consumption calendar of India
(EG Pickling would happen in April, masalas would be made in May etc). So a day
dedicated to any of these is at that time of year, and marking it means, we all
collectively stop and make that pickle or grind that masala like our
predecessors would have following a cycle that’s existed for centuries! The
idea is to celebrate them offline through community pickling, badis and papad,
making or potlucks for food tastings) and online to spread awareness and
encourage practice and consumption of traditional foods.
Objectives on IFOD
- Promote
cooking, production and consumption of traditional foods and dishes.
- Promote
& support the goal of keeping foodways and traditions alive
- Keep
traditional ingredients in use thereby supporting local farmers and food
producers
- Bring people together around food and celebrate Indian food and its cross with culture.
Annual Indian Food Observance Day Calendar (Click on the days to read more on how you can celebrate them.)
1.
Dal Divas January 21 #DalDivas
3.
Achaar Day - April 22 #AchaardayPapad
4.
PapadBadi Day - May 13 #PapadBadiday
5.
Masala Day - May 20 #MasalaDay
6.
Pulao Biryani Day - June 24-#PulaoBiryaniDay
7.
Chai Pakoda Day - July 30 #ChaiPakodaDay
8.
Chutney Day - September 24 #ChutneyDay
9.
Laddu Day - October 15 #LadduDay
10.
Indian Breads Day - 9 Dec #IndianBreadsDay
How do I participate?
Offline real time ways to celebrate
IFOD days
1. Consume the Food being celebrated - The simplest way to support IFOD is to
just cook, buy or eat the food being celebrated on a particular food day.
That’s all!
2. Cook and document the food being celebrated - Learn or rediscover family or
community recipes. Don’t cook it? Now is the time to learn. Know how to cook
it, pass it on to the next generation. Connect with expert cooks you know to
learn and document special much loved recipes so they are not forgotten.
3. Organise a Community Food meetup - Cook up a storm, organise a potluck, and get
friends and family together over the food being celebrated!
For Communities - (Offline food groups, pot luck groups, online communities lif FB food
groups and cookign forums, IFOD are great for community meetups. To get an idea
Read
about the #AchaarDay community meetup of 2019 or watch the
video of the #AchaarDay potluck in 2018
Online ways to celebrate IFOD Days
Many foods, IFOD focus on are more concepts
than dishes (eg. Pakodas are a concept, with a million possible variations).
And each person that shares adds a new variation on a much loved food. So a
large part of IFOD learning comes from as many conversations happening as
possible, and the WWW offers fabulous avenues to propagate these. What's more,
the learning is not limited, everyone can tune in. Also (it has to be said…)
the sheer high of an Indian food day trending is undeniable (though never the
only objective).
So while nobody is required to, if you
are so inclined, take a selfie with or click a picture of the food being
celebrated and share it with the appropriate #hashtag (EG. eat a Pulao or
Biryani on #PulaoBiryani Day and share it on you Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
to add your voice to all of those celebrating.)
Who can participate?
Anyone. Everyone.
You may be someone who simply loves
food, or is an avid cook, or a lover of Indian food. Or a home cook, chef, food
blogger, home chef.... a part of the food industry, or larger food fraternity
or not. It does not matter if you have no connect to food. IFOD are about
celebrating foods we all love and to be truly celebrated, every voice counts!
If you believe in these days, love these foods, have something to say about
celebrating Indian culinary heritage you are welcome!,Just come on in and join
the celebrations! Anyone can participate, as little or as much as you like.
Why should I Participate ?
At a personal level - if you like to taste new things, try
new experiences, learn about food, add new recipes to your repertoire, you will
get all this and more. Simply track the relevant hashtags on social media. You
will find in depth insights on the history, evolution, varieties and varied
recipes, also places to find these foods at in your city and opportunities to
connect with like minded foodies and much more!
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| The lineup of pros for #ChaiPakodaDay 2017 Pakoda festival special menu at Soda Bottle Opener Walla. |
For Professional & food industry
folk - (Food producers,
caterers, pop-up specialists, home chefs, Chefs, food businesses,
restaurateurs, restaurant publiscists and PR folk). At their simplest you can
leverage IFOD topics to create new content for your social media channels
around your own dishes and recipes. But invest thought and time and these
concepts offer unique new ways to create new menu offerings, promotional
festivals and more that will be great hooks to bring in patrons and create
options for media stories. And you can use the hashtags to promote new posts
and #replug old posts, to enrich your social media updates on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and more.
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| Chef Ashish Bagul teaches heirloom Dal recipes for #DalDivas 2019 |
For the Food Chronicler - Food writers, journalists, bloggers,
vloggers, photojournalists, photographers, food show producers and/or anyone
who produces content of any kind for print and media. IFOD offers unbelievable
learning for you. You are also the most empowered to support IFOD with the
power of the pen and documentation on your print, digital and social media
platforms. And IFOD topics will keep giving back, because each of them offers
rich ideas for content.
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| IFOD are about concepts. This shot of Laddus illustrates it beautifully... One laddu, so many variations |
Food Articles and Blogposts - IFOD offer all sorts of grist for stories! History, food memories,
stories, trends, trivia, listicles, varieties, recipes old and new from family
and communities, interviews of food producers, write about epic destinations
for specific foods are just some examples. To get an idea read Pooja Bhullas
account in DNA about participating in #MasalaDay 2017 Masala
Exchange: Tasting India through traditional home-made spice mixes, check how many pickles you have
tasted from this
#AchaarDay 2019 list by Hungry Forever or relive a special food memory like Anubhuti
Krishna in this #SubziTarkariDin 2019 blogpost on her Nanis Parval Aloo.
Food Styling and Photograpahy - ingredients, street food, home cooking, restaurant
 |
| Just some breads on #Instagram for #IndianBreadsDay |
Food Art - go beyond images to be inspired by food in different mediums of your
choice! From illustrations to paintings, IFOD offers so much inspiration.
Video content - (Vlogs, recipe videos, Facebook lives from food shops, markets or
local establishments, explorations of food). Check out this video of our first
ever IFOD
potluck for #PapadBadiDay 2018 in which we recorded 40 odd papads, 12 Badi based dishes that got 1
million views or this video in whihc I take you through Masalas
from around India for #MasalaDay 2018 that got a whopping 948K views!
THE IFOD Community
To connect with fellow IFOD
enthusiasts, join the Indian Food Observance Days group on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/172041243425379/
Or just keep track and learn about
Indian Food Days and Festivals by following the Annual Indian Food Calendar
Page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/IndianFoodObservance/
To connect with IFOD communities in
cities of India…
Feel free to get creative with other
ideas and share them in comments for us to implement as well!
We simply want everyone to talk about
the food days using the hashtags, looking forward to some delicious
posts/blogs/videos! And so much learning!
A special note for teachers and
students of Hospitality Institutions -
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| Faculty and students of Shiela Raheja showcasing their chutneys for #ChutneyDay |
IFOD makes a fantastic way for students
to discover Indian food in all its variety. To collaborate on something like
this please write to me at rushina (at) apbcookstudio (dot) com.
Here is a small case
study - For #ChutneyDay 2017 IFOD collaborated with the Sheila Raheja Institute of Hotel
Management, Mumbai collaborated for a one-day, on-ground celebration that was a
culmination of a two week long recipe documentation and presentation project.
Hospitality students are quite involved with the commercial kitchen but do not
given importance to the home kitchen. So the faculty and I got together for a
unique project. I gave the students a lecture on documenting traditional
recipes that come in pinches and handfuls. They were then asked to go home and
document one chutney recipe each. At the end of two weeks they showcased the
recipes that they gathered from their home kitchens at an event attended by
members of the food fraternity, journalists, writers, food bloggers and their
families. At the end of it, their faculty wrote to us saying “The idea of this
project, getting kids to discover home kitchens and the event and the showcase
was stellar! Everyone including us faculty learned about chutneys ingredients
we couldn’t have imagined of. A true learning experience for everyone." Watch a
live video from the event here
IFOD days in the
Press
Contact us
IFOD is growing and we are in the process of adding to the volunteer teams that make it run. To volunteer time, for more information, to share ideas or anything else, please leave comments or write to me at Rushina (at) apbcookstudio (dot) com.
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