First Mei-ramew cafe opens in West Jañtia hills

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaOctober 30, 2020

In what can be considered as first of its kind, the Society for Urban and Rural Empowerment (SURE) inaugurated the first Mei-ramew Cafe at Mupyut village of West Jañtia hills district. It may be mentioned that the Meiramew or Mother Earth Cafe is part of the livelihood component of the ‘No one shall be left behind initiative’ which is a project that the society work in collaboration with North East Slow Food and Agro-biodiversity Society (NESFAS) and supported by Rural Electrification Commission (REC).

Mupyut village which is located on the National Highway 40 (E) from Jowai to Dawki via Amlarem is also on the way to Krangshuri waterfall and other tourist spots in the Amlarem sub division like Kudeng rim, Shnongpdeng, Darang and Dawki.

The cafe owner is trained to serve only indigenous food and serve food made from local produce only and hope that the cafe will help enhance her income.

Speaking on the occasion the Secretary of the Dorbar Chnong Mupyut Chanki Kyndait lamented that young generation has lost touch with the indigenous food and were even disconnected from the nature. He hope that that Teiri Kyndait whose shop is being supported and promoted by SURE as Mei-ramew Cafe will help revive indigenous food system.

He also said that we not only need to promote indigenous food but we also need to protect mother earth which is providing us food and our basic need.

Teiri Kyndait the owner of the Me-iramew Cafe said that she hope that she will not only help serve indigenous food to the customers who visited her stall, but she also hope that her shop will be of help to farmers who produce vegetables in the village.

Waiphang Shadap staff of SURE who is in charge of the area informed that the organisation has provided some kind of training and exposure trip for Teiri Kyndait to visit other Mei-ramew cafe so that she can she have firsthand experience on how other Mei-ramew cafe were run. The training is basically on maintaining cleanliness and providing nutritious indigenous food to the customers and the organisation also help remodel and beautify the shop.

H.H.Mohrmen secretary of SURE said that apart from starting Mei-ramew cafe, another activity on the livelihood components of the ‘No one shall be left behind initiative’ is forming Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) group which is a system in which peer guarantee each other of engaging in chemical-free or organic farming only. The PGS groups were also provided with seed money to start their ‘Farm on Wheel’ enterprise in which the group sell their chemical-free produce directly to the consumers. Two PGS groups from Mynso and another from Mulum in West Jañtia hills have already started their ‘farm on wheel’ business.

Somja Phawa another staff of SURE said that instead of serving Chinese and other dishes, we should feel proud that we serve our own food. She also informed that SURE is expecting to open another Mei-ramew cafe in Chamcham village which is another prominent tourist destination in the East Jañtia hills district. As a mark of opening the new cafe, Secretary of SURE also hand over a certificate to Teiri Kyndait the owner of the cafe.