Jasia Tahzeeda :
It is considered everywhere that cooking is an art. Like all other forms of art, it is the consumer who decides whether it is appreciable or not. Taste of the food is not only determined by our tongue, it is a complex system where the smell of the food, quality, beauty, presentation, ambience (such as whether you are having that on street, restaurant or home), packaging and particularly the perception about the food play a crucial role. Even past memories and emotion or mood of the consumer contribute to the taste of the food. Cooking style also differ from region to region. Bengali cuisine is highly diverse which is shaped by long history and geography of the region. Everyday meal of Bengali’s consists of plain rice, served with a wide range of curries, fish, leafy greens, lentils, along with different types of vegetables. As Bangladesh is a riverine country, fish is easily found and consumed by people along with rice and varieties of vegetables. The food culture is much enriched and interlinked with the nature and emotion of the natives. The arrival of new seasons, festivals of harvesting crops, new year etc. are celebrated through preparing special food and desserts. In winter different types of local cakes (pitha) are also prepared which is considered as the quintessential Bengali dish for all celebrations related to agrarian society. Bengali cuisine also includes side dishes like desserts such as different types of yogurts and sweets. Chutney or pickles are also very popular in this region as a side dish and it is also used in different preparations.
As Bangladesh is a country which has varieties of vegetables, the culinary culture of vegetable is highly enriched. Unlike many cooking cultures of the world, Bengali vegetarian cuisine are very delicious and promising in terms of sharing their knowledge about cooking vegetarian healthy and tasty dishes by providing recipes to the world. It is our tradition to consume different types of indigenous vegetables, leafy vegetables with various mouth-watering preparations including fry, curry, smashed etc. Many species and herbs are used to make these vegetables palatable and healthy. Ginger, garlic, fennels, fenugreek, turmeric, green chilies, mint, basil leaves, onions coriander leaves etc. are used every day in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes with the purpose of not only making those dishes tasty but to utilize the benefit of these herbal plants for increasing the immunity and providing different health benefit. Even the usage of Panch Phoron (five species) are used vastly in ‘Bangladesh, particularly in vegetarian dishes to make those dishes scrumptious. However, recently it is vivid that the food culture is being influenced by foreign culture and thus it is gradually changing as more meat is being consumed by people, particularly in urban areas.
Globalization and the changing trend of food consumption:
Bangladesh is facing the dual exposure of globalization and climate change. Globalization is affecting our food culture and shifting our view towards food intake. Bengali’s are known as fish eaters (mache bhate Bangali). However in reality new generation of Bengali’s prefer to take meat and they tend to avoid fish and vegetables. Thus many-meat based global chain such as KFC etc. are intruding into the food industry of Bangladesh and it is becoming trendy to consume chicken fry instead of fish, particularly among young generation. Children nowadays reject vegetables from their meal. Thus educating children about nutrition and cooking can change their perception about food and encourage them to intake more vegetables. Thus behavior change communication is highly needed by changing the perception about consuming meat and encouraging to consume healthy and climate friendly food among people as meat consumption contributes negatively to the environment.
Environment and meat production in Bangladesh
Consuming meat is neither healthy nor environment friendly. The water and the carbon footprint of any animal product are larger than the water footprint of a wisely chosen crop product with equivalent nutritional value. There are many clear comparisons where it was found that the meat production requires far more amount of direct and indirect water than vegetable production. Such as: It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce just 1 pound of meat. Only 25 gallons of water are required to grow 1 pound of wheat. (Peta, 2017). As Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to climate change, agriculture will be largely affected through climate change. Given that Bangladesh is a very small riverine country with limited land and huge population, livestock rearing is not feasible. Waste management of poultry and livestock is also very challenging and in many cases the mismanagement directly pollute the water bodies. Livestock rearing contributes to both methane as well carbon di oxide emission. On the other hand, poultry contributes to the air pollution in Bangladesh. While interviewing the locals in Nawabpur union, Feni district of Bangladesh where the poultry business is growing rapidly, it was revealed that bad odor emitting from the poultry is affecting locals of that area significantly. Mr Asad, a small shopkeeper from Nawabpur union stated that it is very difficult for him to work beside the poultry farm because of the odor emitting from those farms and he feels government should take steps to halt the burgeoning growth of poultry to reduce the air pollution. However the negative impact of meat consumption on human health and environment is brusquely ignored in forming planning and policies of Bangladesh.
(Jasia Tahzeeda is Senior Research Officer (Economist) of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS).
