INDIA BEATS
Spread the flavour
RAMYA KANNAN
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FAHC takes a novel approach to the problem of feeding hungry children.
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New media, new hopes: V.K. Narayanan
IF you want to feed a child, what would you do? Collect recipes? Perhaps not.
But that is just what V.K. Narayanan and his team of friends intend to do. Naryanan's Feed a Hungry Child (FAHC) project seeks to collect heirloom and traditional recipes in order to support underprivileged children. However, it's not quite as simple as this. It's clear that much thought and planning has gone into the FAHC project.
"I really wanted to do something in my late mother's name. She died in April 2006 and I was beset with unhappiness over the fact that I could not be at her side when she needed me," VKN, as he is called, says. "The idea was to do something meaningful to help people and I received many valuable suggestions from well wishers — construct a much needed waiting shed in my native village, set up a scholarship in the local school or even sponsor less privileged children until they are independent, but nothing really worked out," he says.
At the time, he was also neck deep in his hobby, a blog (http://mydhaba.blogspot.com) on which he was documenting his own, his mother's and sister's (she died an unnatural death at 29 years) recipes into a collection of traditional Indian home cooking recipes. By then he had also decided to publish a cookbook of his own by December 2006. And that's when it struck him that he could twin the two passions of his life.
An idea takes shape
In addition to documenting disappearing recipes, it seemed to him a good idea to also raise money from the sales of the book for the FAHC campaign. The concept of FAHC's group cookbook project "You can Cook" was born (http://mydhaba.blogspot.com/2006/11/fahc-campaign-group-book-project.html). The book will have at least 365 traditional/ heirloom recipes, written by over 300 authors.
Meanwhile, the project also generated some discussions on the blogsphere. Several heads, foodies, came together and it was decided to have a formal approach to the project — a project manager was assigned to manage the activities. The hunt for subject experts on areas such as book development, marketing, fund raising, began and volunteers were forthcoming.
The process has also been started to form a charity foundation, the Feed A Hungry Child Foundation, a non-profit enterprise that will adopt "business-like entrepreneurial approaches and earned-income strategies to achieve our mission and sustainability".
And what is the mission? Narayanan says, "Join the fight against global poverty. Help feed hungry children one by one."
The FAHC project, which will be based in India (Palakkad, Kerala) to begin with, will expand to other countries and reach more poor children and communities. "We aim to kick-start the actual campaign on April 17, 2007, by identifying 10 hungry children and by sponsoring their feeding costs for one year." Apart from the proceeds of the sale, the organisation will also, eventually, solicit funds from key public figures and individuals who empathise with the cause. "In effect, we have two main channels of income: donations and merchandise. All funds will be managed by the Foundation once set up. Our plan is to approach them once we have the mock book in hand to gain support and also raise profile of the FAHC," VKN explains.
Palakkad being VKN's hometown, he has nominated other founder trustees from there, including Vijayasekharan master, a well-known philanthropist in the locality and his brother Jayakrishnan Narayanan. They will take care of the direct monitoring and reporting of the trust activities. VKN himself lives and works in Oman and will visit India as and when is required.
Encouraging response
The project has received over 200 recipes so far; and is inching towards its goal to gather 365 traditional/ heirloom recipes, all from the public domain. Most of them fall into the categories of homely favourites, traditional, heirloom, ethnic, or regional recipes. Recipes have started pouring in from all over the world, with Indians contributing a slice of their own tradition to preserve for posterity. So you have Prawn and Mango Curry, a traditional Mangalorean dish, Palakoora Aava Pulusu from Andhra Pradesh, Thinglaware from the Konkani smorgasbord or Balekai Gojju from Karnataka, and Thenga Chor made the Kerala way, just to mention a few.
If you have some suggestions, do write in to info.vkn@gmail.com. Chipping in with a recipe allows you to participate in preserving the flavours of your grandmother's kitchen and at the same time, feed a hungry child. However, if the best thing you can do in a kitchen is eat, despair not — you can still buy the book.
India Beats features stories of the unusual, the exotic and the extraordinary.
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