Now, a start-up to fight caste barriers

Entrepreneur Chandra Bhan Prasad is looking to question the connection between caste and occupation through his venture Dalit Foods; calls it a ‘shock therapy’

While advertisements for masalas in India are steeped in tales of heritage and royalty, entrepreneur Chandra Bhan Prasad has come up with a rather novel selling point for his venture. Called Dalit Foods, his e-commerce start-up retails hand ground spices and homemade pickles that were staple diets among Dalits. Chandra’s agenda is simple — he says that the Indian society is in need of a “shock therapy”. He says, “There have been stray instances of people refusing to eat food cooked by Dalits. I want to understand if Indians in general are ready to accept of food grown, cultivated or cooked by Dalits.”

It was in 2008 at an extensive field study in Uttar Pradesh that the entrepreneur enlightened himself about food made by Dalits. He realised that it were these “inferior foods,” common in Dalit hamlets thatcontributed to their health. Chandra says, “While instances of child mortality were common in my community, once a child crossed that danger age point, he would survive right up to his 80s or 90s, despite living in poor conditions. It also helped that we toiled in the farms all day.”

Since the community had no access to water, crops like rice was never an option. Instead, barley, bajra, ragi, kala chana were grown in abundance. Chandra says, “The landlords used these crops to feed their cattle while we Dalits consumed these grains to sustain ourselves. So instead of wheat chapatis, we made rotis out of dry pea flour. Grains like barley, and black gram were consumed only by the lower caste members. Today you ask anyone who knows something about nutrition and he will tell you that these grains are super foods.”

He goes on to add that the mango pickle which is up for sale on the website, is free of adulteration since it has been cooked the same way that the women in his family have employed for decades. The turmeric is sourced from the dry Wardha region of Mahrarashtra, coriander seeds come from the Malwa plateau of Madhya Pradesh and the red Bhiwapur chillies from Vidarbha, again in Maharashtra. He says, “A dry roti with mango pickle and red chillies was our staple food. These ingredients are the purest. Even wheat is best consumed hand-pounded but it isn’t the case anymore since we use machines, which takes away its quality. I may be born impure, but I am serving pure food.”

Chandra hopes that his start-up paves the way for more Dalit entrepreneurs to set up their food business. He says, “This may probably inspire young Dalits to take up entrepreneurship in the food industry. If this venture proves to be successful, it is a clear indication that we have finally become a neutral society.”