You might be
familiar with these words,
MAHARASHTRIAN:
A typical
Maharashtrian lunch or dinner usually starts with Poli (chapati), accompanied
by one or more bhaaji(s) (cooked vegetables) and a koshimbir (vegetable salad)
along with some sides (usually pickles, Chutneys, or papad (Poppadom)). This is
usually followed by a second course of varan (lightly or unspiced Daal
preparation), aamti (spicy Daal preparation) or rassa with rice.
NORTH
INDIAN:
North Indian
food includes a lot of spices, chilies saffron, milk, yoghurt, cottage
cheese, ghee (clarified butter) and nuts.
SOUTH
INDIAN:
Idli,
sambar, vadai, rasam, dosa, thayir sadam (yogurt rice), kootu (vegetables in
wet style), poriyal/kari (vegetables in dry style), uthappam and papadum (baked
lentil-flour crisps).
BENGALI:
Bengali
Cuisine generally consists of a variety of rice dishes and fresh water fish
delicacies. Bengali Food consists of curries, fish dishes, chicken cuisines,
pulses, fries, chutneys, Bengali sweets, snacks and many more.
Wipe that
trickle of water from your mouth. You might have guessed by now where this
article is going. Behold! The great Indian food tamaasha! And no it’s not our fault, this obsession (yes, I shall
use that word) with food is a legacy that has been handed down to us for
generations dating back to the Indian mythological Gods Ganesha and Krishna.
Now who are we to question the wisdom of the ages?
People grab
lunch or leave without breakfast or just
make it to dinner but we, we plan our entire schedule around our food. People
all around the world just eat. Period. We? We like to eat with a capital A. I
mean really eat. It’s a ceremony in itself,
there’s no denying the fact.
There is a
certain way a typical Indian household works its way to dinner. A common thing
about every Indian ‘Gharaana’ is the
way we have a timetable for our daily meals. Everything can wait; everything
can be delayed, except for the meals. The meal starts from the pre-breakfast
tea, breakfast, elevenses, lunch, post-lunch naashta, evening tea and last but not the least the extensive
dinner. Let it be a Gujrati, a Punjabi, a South Indian, North Indian or even a
Maharashtrian, the above list is a must for your survival, or you have a
serious eating disorder according to the Indian health standards. The Indians
unite on one thing, which is clearly food, no exaggeration; we Indians are
crazy about food and have a very intimate relationship with it. Let us forget
the diabetes, the cholesterol, the obesity etc. that is just not our concern.
Our love for food goes beyond all the diseases that can happen with the amount
of spice, oil and dairy products we have every single day.
Every
morning starts from the ‘Masala Chai’ that has the strong scent of the ‘adrak’
which gives a tingling feeling in the throat as you drink it, without that, the
‘chai’ isn’t even worth it. And not forgetting the ’Dubuk’ which can be
anything from the popular Parle-g or Marie biscuit to the traditional
‘khaari-toast’, this makes the pre- breakfast. Then there’s the breakfast that
varies state to state or even house to house. In a typical Maharashtrian
household it is the spicy ‘Kaanda poha’ or the ‘Saabuddaana wada’, in a north
Indians house it is different types of
‘Paraathas’ which is a variety from ‘Aaloo Paraatha’ to ‘Paraathaas’ that
are made using fresh green vegetables and flour. Fried in oil the paraathaas
are crispy outside and soft inside, the filling spicy. It is served with heap
of butter or ghee melting because of the steam right infront of your eyes. Last
but not the least ‘Lassi’, which is essential to complete your meal if you are
a Punjabi or ‘chaas’ if you’re a Maharashtrian. Burping is a necessity or you
aren’t full and satisfied. Then the South Indian breakfast that has the ‘Idlis’
and ‘dosas’. The common thing between all the above is the spicy green chutney.
Then the
lunch which is a combination of vegetable ‘Sabzi’ cooked in oil and spices,
‘Roti’ made of wheat flour, rice and ‘Daal’ with a ‘Tadkaa’. Mind you, the
‘Tadkaa’ is important, without which the daal
is simply inedible. The ‘Ghee’ is cooked hot, added are ‘Jeera’ aka Cumin
seeds, ‘Rai’ aka Mustard seeds, ‘Kadipatta’ aka Curry leaf, green chilies and
‘Hing’ aka Asafoetida which makes the necessary ‘Tadkaa’ put in the Daal,
sometimes rice and even curry. And that’s not it, a little dessert is important
that is the sweet ending to a yummy lunch.
Post lunch
is another time for ‘Chai’ and snacks. The packets of banana chips, wafers and
cream biscuits are put in front of everyone. It is a perfect combination, hot
tea and crunchy chips. A time for the whole family to sit together and chat;
and then begins the preparation of dinner. Dinner is a huge affair, a spread of
food, buffet style. The dinner is not at all formal, it is extremely casual,
where anyone can pick up food whenever they want, mingle around and chat about
politics, the ‘good old days’ or even love. The important thing is that food
should be accessible all the time. The dinner includes the usual ‘Roti’, ‘Daal’
(not forgetting the Tadkaa), more than two types of vegetable sabzi most of the
time and if non vegetarian, then chicken is a must. Last but not the least the
dessert, without which an Indian meal is incomplete. Gulaab Jaamun in
‘Chaashni’, Jalebi, ‘Kheer’ made out if thick milk, sugar and rice or ‘Shahi
Tukdaa’ with a layer of cream on it makes a perfect end to a day.
That is what
happens even when one visits their village, the grandmothers make sure the
above timetable is followed and you are stuffed with all the “healthy” food
that they have. They will on no account
believe that you are stuffed enough to puke, prejudiced as they are that the
people from the city starve themselves.
Food and
Indians have a connection that goes beyond the conventional concepts of ‘man’s
basic needs’. As is commonly heard, some people eat to live and some live to
eat. Needless to say, we fall in the latter category. What is a festival without a big buffet of
mouth-watering delicacies? What is a wedding without the guests blessing the
food available as much as the bride? What is a cricket marathon without several
bags of farsaan, samosas and wada paos?
What is a baby’s naming ceremony without the guests’ mouths working as much as
the baby’s? If you ever need to find Indians among a crowd of foreigners, just
hold up a tray of food and see the magic. As the Indian saying goes – “Ek anaar, sau bimaar!”
