F E AT U R E Sandeep Balagangadharan Menon
Integrating the city and food systems: an Indian perspective The notion that food has nothing to do with urban landscape planning and design needs to be revisited, argues Sandeep Balagangadharan Menon.
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vailability of food has been one of the primal considerations to help a species decide on its habitat – including humans. This explains the location of some of the earliest civilisations near fertile river valleys. Producing food is a complex process which depends on seasons, biogeographic qualities of the land and the intertwined issues of economic gains and socio-cultural histories of food-producing societies. The advancements made in the last century in storage and transportation have made it easy for food produced in distant lands to be made available in the local super markets within days, with an assurance of enhanced shelf life. This is a game-changer in ‘urbanperiurban-hinterland’ relationships, but it has also in effect alienated the perceived connections between the acts of producing food and the eventual consumer. This alienation, even though it is a global phenomenon, has distinct effects on the lives of urban dwellers, especially in the ‘Global South’, or less developed regions. Indian cuisine is myriad and diverse. Local ingredients, traditional cooking 12
techniques, bioclimatic peculiarities and cultural beliefs have traditionally led to a great diversity. It may be a bit naïve to imagine the ‘spicy curry’ as being the epitome of Indian cuisine, since in India the word ‘curry’ could connote a variety of dissimilar dishes with entirely different ingredients depending on the location within the country. The role played by ’food’ in the history of the Indian sub-continent is very interesting. The European quest for controlling the ‘Asian Spice Trade’, especially of the Malabar black pepper, propelled the late 15th century Iberian expeditions of Christopher Columbus and Vasco Da Gama. Columbus’s expedition lead to the ‘discovery’ of the Caribbean islands in 1492. What followed was an exchange of plants, diseases and culture – often referred to as the ‘Columbian Exchange’. This expedition introduced tomatoes, chillies, potatoes, pineapples, cashews and many more plants to the “Old World”. Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India opened up new avenues for spice trade from the shores of the Malabar Coast to Europe, and also led to the introduction of many of the common ingredients which were unknown to
the gastronomic palate of the region. The following centuries saw the introduction of many new species of plants which have since become an integral part of the Indian cuisine. Easily cultivable vegetables with longer shelf lives gained prominence over the native species, including potatoes, tomatoes, chillies and tapioca. More than 820 million people globally do not have secure access to food1. In an increasingly unequal world, the proportion of people who are “food insecure” is growing at an alarming rate, especially in cities in times when urban immigration has reached peak levels. (UN Habitat 2010). Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population, and India is among the 15 leading exporters of agricultural products globally2. However, Indian cities have been witnessing an massive increase in their urban immigration rate coupled with climatic vagaries that destroy crops, leading to localised food crises. This is further complicated by the varying food cultures, cuisines of choice, and consumption patterns of the various cities within one country. The lockdowns
