A new high in food habit

Kerala: Society

A new high in food habit

SHANAVAS. S | New Delhi, November 13, 2011 16:19

Mutton, chicken consumption in God’s Own Country goes up

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Kerala leads India on many indicators: from literacy to health programmes, from the consumption of hard liquor to crimes. The state is the country’s largest foreign exchange earner, thanks to remittances from the Gulf. Now add another one. According to a latest survey, Kerala has, in the last seven months, emerged as the largest meat consuming state. The report on Kerala’s meat consumption coincides with Onam, the state’s very own national festival celebrated with traditional vegetarian foods and sadya (feast).

According to media reports, Kerala’s daily requirement of meat has been pegged at 5000 tonnes where roughly 80 to 85 per cent of the population is reportedly non-vegetarians. Kerala’s animal husbandry department, however, plays down the figures. “It is true that 80 to 85 per cent of state’s population prefer non-vegetarian food as their diet. But the daily requirement of meat is 1000 to 1500 tonnes. Other reports are far from the truth and reality’’, states Dr. R. Vijayakumar, director, state animal husbandry department.

Vijaykumar agreed that meat consumption in Kerala has seen a huge increase in recent years with beef and chicken an important component of the common man’s diet. Onam is known for traditional feasts including varieties of vegetarian cuisines but government statistics reveal another story. Sample these. Keralites consumed 1,759 tonnes of meat during vegetarian Onam. Of them 45 per cent were beef eaters, 35 per cent chicken, 14 per cent mutton while the rest enjoyed pig, duck and others. According to the report, in the last five years or so, the eating profile of people has undergone a drastic change. The new pace and style, best epitomised in the fast food culture, has become wide ranging and has reached the villages. The rise in peoples’ revenues with a corresponding rise in literacy levels have helped people to adopt protein-rich non-vegetarian food. Contributing factors like high vegetable prices and increasing consumption of liquor have helped evolve the new food culture. Besides Kerala and West Bengal are two states where the slaughter of cattle is not prohibited or banned.

In 2009-10, the animal meat production from the organised sector was 1,02,026 metric tonnes. Poultry meat production for the same year stood at 15,482 metric tonnes and total meat production from the authorised sector was pegged at 1,17,508 metric tonnes. The total annual meat production, including the unauthorised sector, was 3, 21, 560 metric tonnes while the state’s requirement was 3,30,105 metric tonnes. No surprise then the likes of KFC, US Fried Chicken, and others have mushroomed in Kerala.

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