Nutrient Composition of Traditional Festival Foods of North Karnataka

India has a rich treasure of traditional foods specifica for festivals. An investigation was undertaken to document the different traditional foods prepared during Hindu festivals of North Karnataka and to assess nutritive value of such foods. Data were collected through a cross sectional survey of 200 Hindu families (100 each from rural and urban areas) of Dharwad Taluka. The study revealed that 78 traditional foods (45 sweet and 33 savory) were prepared which were characteristic to this region during the different major festivals. Typical to this region were the use of ingredients like wheat gluten, gum crystals, traditional pasta products, minor oilseeds such as linseed and niger, recrystallized special sugar, safflower milk and seeds of marking nut tree. A majority of festival foods were based on cereals in both sweet and savory categories. Boiling, roasting, pan baking or pounding were the common processing methods followed and deep frying was not a common method. It was observed that, the calorific value of the sweet items ranged from 115 to 283 K cal per serving. Bajra roti was found to be highly nutritious, providing higher levels of energy, protein, calcium, iron, magnesium, copper and zinc than rest of the savory festival foods. Foods low in fat, calories , carbohydrates and sodium were identified

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