more-in The largescale deforestation and different other types of degradation of forest land in the last couple of decades has had a tremendous impact on the diet of aboriginal tribes living in the tribal belt of Adilabad and neighbouring districts. Dwindling availability of wild food has been identified as a factor which is telling on the general health of adivasis. It is in rainy season that the stark reality dawns that wild food items like roots, tubers, tender bamboo shoots and mushrooms have vanished from the adivasi kitchens, depriving them of key nutritional components in their diet. Their diet now comprises mostly of rice, vegetables and meat. The aboriginal people have almost lost their knowledge of the different kinds of food which used to be found in their surroundings. Only a few of them can distinguish between an edible and a poisonous mushroom variety. The Kolams, classified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group, can still be found consuming tender bamboo shoots in the shape of curry, especially in the rainy season. It is because of their proximity to the bamboo areas, the tribe ekes out a living by making bamboo mats and baskets, that they find the tender shoots which they call kalla easily. “Mushrooms however cannot be found any more in the forest. Many in the present generation have never tasted the putta kuhku,” pointed out Kolam elder Athram Raju of Gowri Kolamguda in Jainoor mandal of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district. “It is only the old among our people who crave for such natural foods like tender bamboo shoots or khark and mushrooms or guvangs,” observed Madavi Pulabai, a Raj Gond Adivasi from Rumankasa in Gadiguda mandal of Adilabad district. “Very rarely do the shepherd boys get a handful of mushrooms which are relished by the elderly,” she adds. “The growth of mushrooms during monsoon is an indicator of the soil’s richness in organic matter. Such soil used to be the outcome of humus formed due to decay of fallen leaves in forests,” revealed botanist E.N. Murthy of Satavahana University in Karimnagar district. “The edible mushroom was an excellent part of diet of the ethnic people as it provided essential vitamins, proteins and fibre among other nutrients,” he added.

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