Bangladesh – Kitchuri, a regional recipe to fight malnutrition

12 Oct 2011 Health and nutritionBangladesh

This year, Terre des hommes has been working in the suburbs of Kurigram, in the north of Bangladesh. An extremely high rate of malnutrition was observed in children under five in a survey carried out in October 2010 on 200 families living on sandy ground near the river. The situation of these families is precarious, as each time the Brahmaputra rises, this tributary can overflow and wash away the land and their houses.

In this new zone of intervention, the visits of Terre des hommes started last February. Once a month, two community agents organise monitoring the growth of small children. Some forty young women and their children are gathered together in the courtyard of one of the houses. This is not only about measuring and weighing the little ones to spot which of them is suffering from malnutrition, but also to teach life-saving methods such as malaria prevention, treatment, hygiene, etc. The day of our visit, the cooking demonstration of a balanced meal is on the programme.

Cooking demonstration
The meeting starts with showing everyone the ingredients for Kitchuri. This dish – rather like risotto – is composed of rice, lentils and vegetables. First of all the onions, garlic and ginger are browned in some oil. Then the rice and red lentils are added, and finally chunks of vegetable marrow and greens (leaf vegetables). The nutritional values of this traditional Bangladeshi dish are suitable for children from six months old. At that age, the children are particularly at risk of malnutrition, as their needs increase and their diet is no longer exclusively mother’s milk.

Whilst the Kitchuri is cooking, individual consultations get started. In a few minutes the arms, height and weight of each child are measured and written down in the Terre des hommes register. This data makes it possible to show each mother if her baby is in the green, orange or red zone. “Today, of the 40 children examined, only four are in the red zone, i.e. severely malnourished", explains us Ashrafulbari, area supervisor working for Terre des hommes since 15 years. “We encourage these four mothers to go to the nutrition centre, as their babies are weak and liable to get ill. Even diarrhoea could be fatal for them!”

A growth chart in the red
Zurina, 30 years old, has come with her youngest daughter, Ruksana – 17 months old and suffering from malnutrition. Her condition has slightly improved since the first session four months ago, but the monthly indicator is still in the red zone (you can see the table for monitoring growth as used by Terre des hommes in Bangladesh ). Thanks to the advice given her, Zurina has changed the diet for her little girl. “I have learned to feed my daughter more often”, she says, “and the session on hygiene was also very useful: I am always careful to wash my hands before preparing her food and feeding her.” At the moment she does not want to go to the diet centre with Ruksana, as she has nobody at home to tend her two other daughters, who are 8 and 4 years old. Her husband, a rickshaw driver, cannot abandon his meagre livelihood to look after the girls until the youngest gets better. The family has no reserves of money or food, and would be completely poverty-stricken if he stopped working. For this reason it is essential for the mother to learn how to care for her child with cheap and accessible food.

One hour later, when all the mothers have had their turn to be advised and to talk to the health agents, the huge 30-litre pan of Kitchuri is ready to serve. The sun is at its zenith, the temperature is over 35°C, and the meal given to all the mothers is more than welcome. For most of them, it is the first meal of the day.

Basic ingredients for Kitchuri: 2 handfuls (75g) rice 1 handful (50 g) red lentils 1 handful (75g) leaf vegetables 1 handful (75g) vegetable marrow in chunks 5 tablespoons (25g) oil 800 ml water To make this dish more tasty, you can add: Onion, garlic, ginger, tumeric and salt

Read more news about Bangladesh ands about local recipe in our intervention countries