We live in the western part of Dhule district, in the tribal-dominated areas of the Sanhyadri range. From there the boundary of the state of Gujarat begins. Nature is an integral part of tribal life. Their diet is based on a balanced use of these natural resources. Our father spent most of his childhood in this area, so all these things have a big influence on him and eventually on us. Our late grandfather Rajaram Pawar was a primary teacher in this area so Guruji, our grandfather, had to play the role of a consultant. Guruji has two children. Our father his elder son and carry on my father’s legacy. For many years, he has been working to bring modern agricultural technology to the farm dams in tribal areas. Out of this, many tribal farmers are moving towards record production. While solving many problems of these farmers, he noticed that they have to fight a lot for the market price. Many farmers are in trouble due to non-receipt of proper returns. As a solution to this, he started thinking about whether we could act as a link to deliver these products to the urban consumers and started bringing agricultural products to the urban consumers along with many tribal youths. This area is close to Gujarat as it is predominantly tribal, so there is a great influence of Gujarati food culture is on this area. As a part of this, colocasia leaves (taro leaves) are used in the regular diet. While this sequence was going on, Corona gripped the whole world and at that time it was realized that all the urban people had to face a lot of hardships. While the number of patients in the city is increasing, the number of patients in this tribal belt is rare. Their immune system and healthy environment can play an important role in this. My brother and I, the third generation of Guruji, were also studying in Pune during this period. Due to the lockdown, we were also living in Pimpalner and all these issues were being discussed. Bilvam food was born out of the idea of what can be done to increase the income of tribal people. That is why we are proud to launch our first product ‘CRUNCHY PATRA’ which is like a new version of ‘Aluwadi’
