Tribal Sustenance & Remedies

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

We tribals cut down forests to build our homes and live in the forest itself. From the forest, we get roots, flowers, and delicious fruits, and we sustain our lives from them, and we also do farming.

— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

Obtaining food by hunting wild animals in the forest, eating fruits and flowers, and growing grains.

— bachcha lal · Shahganj, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

Forest-derived food includes fresh bamboo shoots, bamboo sago, and Kendu fruit, among others. We obtain our food from the forest.

— S Guruteli · Upperpur, Malkangiri, 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

We are all tribal people, we live in forests. We collect our food from the forests. With that, we sustain ourselves. This is indeed our life's goal.

— KusaPradhani · Anakabadi, Rayagada, Odisha

From the forest, we also get many things as vegetables, such as

— Kekti Tekam

We indigenous people used to eat roots and tubers from the forests and sustained ourselves with them. These also served as medicine, keeping our bodies healthy. Even today, we should use roots and tubers.

— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

Even now, fruits, flowers, healthy herbs, and medicines from the forest are being used by us, including the tribal community.

— ishwarsabar · Chelema, Seraikela-Kharsawan, Jharkhand

We get our nutritious diet from the forest, such as Mahua fruit Doli oil in the form of fat, Kodo, Bhaddi, Kulthia, Mahua flowers, Jamun, Mahua kheer, Bhaji, etc.

— Surajsingh Parmar · Alirajpur, Madhya 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

Forest food collection

— Suna majhi · Kulusingi, Rayagada, Odisha

We tribals are completely different from other castes; our ancestors used to live in forests and sustained themselves by eating fruits, flowers, etc., from the forest.

— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

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

From the forest, we get leafy vegetables, tubers, mushrooms, and fruits. All these kinds of things are available.

— Laba Kumar sabar · Bada Baridi, Rayagada, Odisha

Grains and other food items are included from the forest.

— Sunita Kumari

Traditionally, we obtain medicinal products from the natural forest, various types of Hadi, Kandha, Banakandha, different kinds of leaves, brooms, and other such diverse things, as well as our traditional drinks.

— Mishra · Gandhinagar, Rayagada, Odisha

We are the people of earlier times who used to eat mahua from the forest, eat chakad shak, eat millet bread, eat corn bread. Now people eat good food, and because they eat good food, they catch so many diseases.

— Sunita Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

We are getting all kinds of seasonal produce from the forest.

— Laba Kumar sabar · Lamingi, Rayagada, Odisha

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

In ancient times, in previous eras, people collected nutritious foods like ragi, millet, etc., from the forest, ate them to stay healthy and strong, and lived for a long time. If farmers or tribal community people cultivate those essential crops of those ancient times again, it will guide them towards the development of their life's values in the future.

— Dillip pujari · Phiringia, Kandhamal, Odisha

Residents in the forest bushes have a business of various medicinal plants, and they benefit from it for food.

— Devisingh Solanki · Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh

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

Grains, food, and foodstuffs are included from the forest.

— Sunita Kumari

Earlier, we used to eat mahua from the sarai in the jungle and sustain our lives. No fertilizer was used at all. Our bodies also remained healthy. Everyone used to be strong and robust, and lived for a long time.

— Ram Kumari · Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh

Currently, we are seeing that people are gradually obtaining the fruits, medicinal plants, greens, and nutritious food that were available in the forest.

— Ramadas Badanayak · Udulibeda, Malkangiri, Odisha

We tribal people bring herbs from the forest to treat many diseases, for the well-being of people.

— Ram Maravi · Dindori, 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

We are tribals, we are nature worshippers. We always depend on trees and plants to live. We sustain our livelihood by eating its tubers, fruits, and roots.

— PRADEEP KUMAR KANHAR · Boudh, Odisha

We can use muIdim found in the forest as traditional medicine.

— Anupama Mahanand · Sundargarh, Odisha

Forest food

— Abhimaneu Sabar

In the forest, we find greens, wild tubers, mushrooms, fruits, and roots of all kinds in every season.

— Laba Kumar sabar · Bada Baridi, Rayagada, Odisha

Forest Food

— Abhimaneu Sabar