Bhawanipatna: ‘Karadi’ is no longer a poor and tribal people’s food item. It has already reached the dining tables of many better-off families across western Odisha.
Its popularity has become a boon for some tribal people who are, these days, earning their livelihood by selling this forest-grown item.
What is ‘Karadi’? Well, the grated tender bamboo shoots are known as Karadi. Tender shoots of bamboo appear in bamboo bushes in rainy season. Tribal people, mostly women, collect them. These collected shoots are then julienned. Then they are ready to go on sale.
These days it has been a common scene to find this strong-smelling ‘Karadi’ juliennes being sold by the roadside in towns and markets. And, surprisingly enough, they get vanished within a few hours of their arrival in markets. Since ‘Karadi’ is available once in a year, they are always in demand.
According to some tribal women, the ‘Karadi’ has helped them a lot in earning a livelihood amid the coronavirus pandemic.
People of western Odisha are best skilled at using ‘Karadi’ in their kitchens. While its pickle is everyone’s favourite, housewives keep it in dried form to use it in off seasons. It is used in preparing varieties of mouth-watering food items. Housewives love to serve ‘Karadi’ pickle and other items when they have any guests in their houses.
It is also a tradition at some places to gift a bottle of ‘Karadi’ pickle to guests when they leave.
PNN