Northeast wisdom for freedom from obesity

India’s obesity crisis is looming; driven by sedentary lifestyles and processed and unhealthy food habits, it has given rise to new challenges of health management. Traditional food culture in the Northeast region, influenced by local produce and the seasonal food calendar, offers healthy and balanced alternatives to calorie-rich diets to address the problem. Tapping the potential can unlock huge commercial opportunities for taking the cuisines of different communities beyond the geographical boundaries of the region. The minimal use of oil and garden-fresh vegetables accounting for a larger share of the plate makes the traditional cuisines healthy alternatives in daily diets. Leafy vegetables with high medicinal values form an essential part of the daily diet among different indigenous communities of the region, depending on their seasonal availability. Various communities have kept preserved their traditional knowledge about the medicinal value of such leafy vegetables rich in essential nutrients. It is heartening to observe the growing popularity of the Lakadang variety of turmeric from Meghalaya as a natural colour in the food industry as a healthy alternative to harmful chemical food colouring agents, besides its popularity as a condiment and its richness in medicinal value. Busy work life is driving significant dietary preference, with deep-fried and fast-food consumption spreading faster among youth with the growth of online food businesses. New dietary preferences for food that is tastier and has more visual appeal have replaced traditional nutrition-rich daily diets of different indigenous communities of the region. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, during its 47th Central Advisory Committee meeting held in May, had urged the states and union territories to scale up comprehensive measures, including widespread public awareness campaigns on the obesity crisis. The apex food regulator’s appeal follows a clarion call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for urgent action for an obesity-free and healthier nation, which highlights the magnitude of the health crisis in the country. The FSSAI underscored the need for states to enhance their food safety surveillance, promote the ‘Eat Right India’ movement, and encourage the availability of nutritious and safe food options across all segments of society. While the intervention is timely and much needed, implementation has many challenges. Availability of seasonal nutrient-rich vegetables on a commercial scale is a key challenge, as the traditional practice in the region is to grow mostly for their household needs or, at most, to cater to the demand of the village households if not all the households in the village are growing a particular variety of vegetables or a food crop. Organic cultivation of the food crop in the region is a key factor behind traditional cuisines of the region being nutritious and healthy. The Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North East Region (MOVCDNER) has pushed organic farming, but a disconnect between market realities and farmers’ aspirations continues to persist. Such a gap poses hurdles for entrepreneurs to expand their business of nutritious food to cater to market demand that has grown with rising health consciousness on obesity among a section of youth. These food business operators from the region scripting a success story of replacing unhealthy, calorie-dense processed food high in sugar and sodium with healthy alternatives rooted in nutrient-rich traditional diets will also attract the attention of other regions grappling with the obesity crisis. The rapid spread of online food businesses with food aggregators using digital technology to cater to the rising demand for ready-to-eat meals among urban residents demands the availability of food ingredients in adequate quantities. Converting this challenge into opportunities can transform subsistence-level farming in the region into commercial-scale farming if flagship schemes like MOVCDNER for boosting organic farm produce are anchored to new market realities like online food businesses. Adherence to food safety standards must ensure a strong surveillance and oversight mechanism so that unscrupulous traders cannot exploit the growing demand for organic food produce by passing off vegetables grown using chemicals and contaminated with pesticide residues as organic produce from farm fields of indigenous communities in the region. Building awareness on obesity to stay protected from the risk of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers needs to be linked with emerging and rapidly spreading online food businesses and urban dining culture to achieve the campaign goals. Without replacing unhealthy food with healthy alternatives, merely increasing physical activities or physical exercise cannot reduce or reverse obesity. It has been scientifically established that diet is central to the fight against obesity, while research has proven the high nutritional value of traditional daily diets of the indigenous communities in the region. Mainstreaming the traditional food practice in the region and traditional knowledge of medicinal values of naturally growing and organically grown food crops can provide a pragmatic solution to India’s obesity crisis. States in the region need to leverage this advantage and boost organic produce from farm fields and also patronise food entrepreneurs from the region to tap the potential of marketing traditional food items across India.