30% of Indian food originates from foreign - Fusion - WeRIndia

According to a recent study, it was found that about a third of what Indians eat comes from a foreign country. According to the study, 45 percent of the calories consumed in the country comes from foreign food.

This information comes from an international team of scientists studying interdependence of the world’s countries on each other’s foods. This international study covered 177 countries and 132 types of fruits and vegetables. Scientists from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) led this study.

Colin Khoury, the lead author of the study said that scientists have brought together archaeological, linguistic, taxonomic, genetic and other data to identify where all crops came from since many decades. He said that, even then, many scientists did not ask the question where our modern food really comes from. He added that is what this study has been about.

The Indian subcontinent does produce a wide range of foods. This includes various varieties of rice, millets and pulses among food grains to sugarcane, bananas and plantains, mangoes, lemons, and various tubers like taro and yams.

However, the study found that most of the popular Indian foods that are commonly eaten in India did not originate in the country. These include onions which origin from West Asia, potatoes and tomatoes which origin from the Andean region in South America, chillies which origin from Central America, rapeseed and mustard seed from the Mediterranean region, garlic and apples from Central Asia etc.

Even surprising is, wheat – which is one of the most common foods in India – was originally developed in West Asia but came to India thousands of years ago.

In the study, it was found that human migrations over centuries and trade are the most common reasons for these foods to reach India. It was found that there are 23 regions all over the world where different plants evolved.

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