HT Correspondent
SIVASAGAR, May 5: A two-day ICSSR-sponsored national seminar on the topic ‘Commercializing Culinary Heritage: Exploring Indigenous Food and Beverage Offerings of various Communities of Assam, India’ has been organised at the Sibsagar Girls’ College in collaboration with the Assam Women’s University and Sivasagar zone of Assam College Teachers’ Association(ACTA) in Sivasagar
The seminar was virtually inaugurated by the vice-chancellor of Assam Women’s University, Ajanta Borgohain Rajkonwar, while the welcome speech was delivered by the principal of the college, Protim Sharma.
Related Posts:
Ruma Bhattacharyya, retired professor of Assam Agricultural University’s department of food science and nutrition informed the audience about different categories of indigenous food and beverage items available in the state and their nutritional as well as commercial value.
She added that if we are to commercialize our culinary heritage, we must have scientific preservation techniques, market research branding, packaging, patenting, etc. Citing examples of our indigenous products, she said that Indian Army had once procured komol saul for soldiers serving in Kashmir through consultations with AAU, Jorhat.
The chorus was presented by the teaching staff of the college. Chief guest HK Sarma of Dibrugarh University’s department of pharmaceutical science, enlightened the audience about the nutritional and medicinal properties of various indigenous food items of the state.
Meghali Bora, a progressive woman entrepreneur from Jorhat, elaborated on her journey as an entrepreneur of indigenous food items of the state and showed the students and participants how one can be innovative and be a successful entrepreneur in the area. The two-day seminar, which ended on May 4, saw the participation of more than 150 research scholars, teachers, students and practitioners with over 100 research papers, presented both virtually and in-person.
