CHANGING EATING HABITS

 Vironi Ouso Manayath was a young widow in our locality. She was an enterprising lady. In 1970s she started a bakery business. Her bread and cookies were popular in all the nearby Islands. Her second son, Thomas, was a member of the public library and was an avid reader. He helped his mother by supplying the baked goods she made to her varied customers in all the Islands. Vironi also installed a Ratt, a spinning wheel, to make coir yarn, which kept her children engaged. It helped them to eke out their living. Later her eldest son, Antony, got a job in the Cochin Port Trust.  This was a great relief as he could take care of the affairs of the family well.

It is amazing to observe the changes in the eating hsbits of the Islanders. Unlike in the earlier days, there are ten bakeries now; some of them are well furnished with clean glass cupboards. By around half past ten in the mornings, a lot of delicious snacks and varied chips fried in ghee or coconut oil, certain snacks with varied fillings, puffs and sandwiches with varied fillings, cake, halwa, other sweets, pastries with cocoa toppings, cookies and bread would be put on display. These would disappear in an hour or two. These bakeries too offer beverages and fresh juices.

“Globalization” has improved job prospects and prosperity in countries like India. The apparent improvement in the diets of people in India especially in Kerala, the domain of Malayalis, is, no doubt, a healthy trend in our economy. I have noted that health and physique especially the height and weight of the new generation are improving. The increasing demand for better nutrition and better food has to be met and the central and state governments have to focus their attention on better production in agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, poultry and farming to avert a food crisis. Quality control is another significant factor to be looked into. We have to improve our ware-houses, transport system and distribution system to make agricultural and other products reach the ultimate consumer at affordable prices. There should be adequate supply of food grains, vegetables and other gooddies commensurate with the demand. This would   enable the government to arrest the spiraling prices. If there is shortage of an item of food, necessary quantity of such item should be imported to maintain the price in the market. With the surplus produced, if any, we should be able to help the poorer nations in the world.

Excerpts from

NEED OF THE HOUR

by

Joseph J. Thayamkeril

Lawyer, Kochi, Kerala, India.