Forest Food & Indigenous Life

Our community lives by building homes in the forests, hunting wild animals, and sustaining themselves by eating tamarind, mango, guava, and other produce found in the forest. Thus, they belong to a different way of life.

— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

Due to living in forest and hilly areas

— Sunita Kumari · Ghorawal, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

Before, we used to eat saag roti, kurthi dal, urad dal, and mahua saag. Sometimes we would find amla and bael from the forest, and that's how we used to sustain our lives.

— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

We used to live in our nature with the forest, happily bringing forest produce. We would all eat and live together. You were climbing.

— sudhir gamanga · Gadiakhala, Ketalugurha, Rayagada

We get various types of fruits and roots from the forest.

— Laba Kumar sabar · Bada Baridi, Rayagada, Odisha

In ancient times, our Aamli, Kuri, Vati, and Mal, the wood visible in this forest used to be cut, and then crops were sown, and that was...

— Mohan AHARI · Dabaycha, Udaipur, Rajasthan

There was a forest in our village.

— Laba Kumar sabar · Bada Baridi, Rayagada, Odisha

Tribal people generally live in forests, live in hills, eat forest products, so they lead a different life from ordinary people.

— Kunakanta Behera · Dashapalla, Nayagarh, Odisha

My tribal people, living in the forest far from the city and making food from forest produce.

— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

We get various greens and various fruits from the forest.

— Laba Kumar sabar · Bada Baridi, Rayagada, Odisha

Our tribe lives in the forest, far from villages and cities, and for food, they eat mahua, dori, koyna, this street, etcetera, kola.

— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

The factors that define our tribe are mostly living around the forest, along with our dress and traditional attire.

— Sunil oraon · Ranchi, Jharkhand

Our tribal communities live their lives on the edge of the forest.

— Amar Lal Dhurwey · Mandla, Madhya Pradesh

My name is Rashmita Pradhan. Just as our ancestors remained healthy by eating fruits and roots found in the forest, prepared without chemicals, we also wish to eat the same food now. We are from tribal-dominated areas. Our forest is our lifeline. Therefore, our ancient traditions should be restored, and our forest should not be destroyed. Thank you. Raika Kandhamal.

— RITARANI PRADHAN · Raikia, Kandhamal, Odisha

My name is Rina Kuonro. We are the tribal indigenous people. We produce food and collect from the forest, and we express our desire to live with the forest or with nature. This is a humble request to the government for us, and please pay attention to the forest-derived food that we can obtain.

— RITARANI PRADHAN · Raikia, Kandhamal, Odisha

In earlier times, we used to get medicine from the forest.

— Amar Lal Dhurwey · Mandla, Madhya Pradesh

Living in the forest and enduring hardships, whether it is building a home to use herbs for treating illnesses, or making a living by eating fruits and flowers, or for this.

— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

Tribal people often live in forests and eat many things that we don't know.

— Chanda

We have been living in this village for generations. Our ancestors lived right here in our village. They settled the entire village. They also settled all the forest.

— Kachala Choudhary

We settled in a forest village far from the city and showed wood, fruits, leaves, and wild water to everyone.

— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

Tribal people used to build homes after cutting down forests and used herbs, fruits, and food from the forest. And they used to drink Chuwada water. That's why tribal people are different.

— Chanda

The main factors defining our community are mostly settlement in forest areas.

— Sunil oraon · Ranchi, Jharkhand

My name is Surendra Podra. I am from Gurumundi village, Katinga Gram Panchayat, Dani block, Kandhamal district. I want to highlight the environmental degradation of today. Our ancestors used to live in the forest, depending on roots, greens, and various other things. But... I express my desire to bring back that kind of environment.

— SUBASH SABHASUNDAR · Gajapati, Odisha

Our society is like this due to living in the forest and education.

— Sunita Kumari · Ghorawal, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

We used to gather forest products like mahua, cook them, make cakes, and eat them in the forest. Even now, we will learn from our ancestors.

— Gitanjali Bhoi · Karamdihi, Sundargarh, Odisha

We Adivasi communities are communities that depend on nature, collect roots and tubers from the forests, and use them as food, which is very nutritious and also serves as medicine.

— Ram Kumari

My name is Isaac Sabar, village Zero Number, Panchayat Mandi Mandi, District Kandhamal. I feel that in the current situation, people used to use traditional forest products, which are forest-derived goods, in large quantities to sustain their livelihoods, but due to the lack of forests, they have disappeared. We want to restore the forests so that we can enjoy those forest products just like our ancestors used to.

— SUBASH SABHASUNDAR · Gajapati, Odisha

My name is Dhiren Badhai from Kiyariya village and Bamani Gaon Panchayat, Dharibari block. Our ancestors used to eat roots, leafy greens, fruits, and tubers from the forest, living a nutritious life, but now all of that has decreased.

— SUBASH SABHASUNDAR · Gajapati, Odisha

In our ST community, everything has changed for the people of this district. Before, we used to bring tamarind, mahua, and all kinds of forest products to eat and drink.

— Puspanjali Nag

People of our community live in villages far from the city, building their homes in forested areas, and eat coarse grains, which makes them distinct.

— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

Our ancestors used to cultivate mung bean, urad, horse gram, ragi, and mustard. At that time, it used to rain, and there were forests.

— Anirudha Marai

I am Juno Chhatria. We are tribal people. We used to live by cultivating the forest and land. We used to eat fruits and roots from the forest, and we used to eat food without fertilizers, and we were not victims of any disease. Currently, we are eating food with fertilizers and are facing various diseases. That's why we request the government to return our previous world to us. Raykia Kandhamal.

— RITARANI PRADHAN · Raikia, Kandhamal, Odisha

In ancient times, various types of forest products were available. And many rare fruits, that was very difficult, but now we also try.

— Padmalochan Majhi