Traditional fish recipes of fisher households and their significance

Abstract

Fish plays an important role in the diet of many cultures. The production from small-scale fisheries provides a major sources of protein in many parts of the world. The role of fisherwomen in nurturing the nutritional security of households is very significant as they are the key home managers in fisher communities. The indigenous knowledge of women in maintining traditional methods of fish preparation is often neglected while documenting the Traditional knowledge in fisheries sector. Their ITKs can be related to the household chores and nutritional value of various dishes. This paper tries to document the indigenous traditional recipes collected from fisherwomen of Kerala, under the ESSO-INCOIS funded project on ‘Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITKs) in marine fisheries sector of Kerala: Analysis and Documentation’ that was carried out in collaboration with Vijnana Bharati, New Delhi. Traditionally prepared fish recipes were documented from 23 women from various districts of coastal Kerala. The fisherwomen have knowledge about nutritional and medicinal values of certain fishes and this are incorporated in their daily diet. For instance, women do not feed children with mackerel during summer as they believe that it can also cause allergic reactions. Cynoglossus spp. locally known as ‘nangu’ is cleaned, covered in banana leaf and kept in fire place. It is popularly referred as ‘nangu vaatiyath’ and is given to ladies soon after delivery as it is believed to heal the internal and external wounds quickly. Some of the typical recipes included Meenada, chaala kothappikkal, choraku curry, koonthal vara, neymeen mappaas, meenitta cheeni are some of the fish delicacies prepared in the household of fisherfolk. It is important to identify, document and validate such information to act as repositories for future studies on nutrition and diets