I had been writing this blog since quite some time, about how malayali dishes are eaten. The monthly magazine, "karayOga sauhRdam" published by Ernakulam Karayogam (http://www.ernakulamkarayogam.com/ ) carried this as a five part article ending in the last issue.
But just now only I realised my foolishness. Today only a few Keralites can read Malayalam letters. How would they read this? Interestingly those few who can read Malayalam also know this peculiar eating style of Malayali too.
So I decided to translate this into English and publish on this blog itself.
Here it starts (Original version in Malayalam)
Style of eating is one facet of cultural diversity. The styles of eating in Kerala is one of the facets of the culture here. Weather it is for a social feast or at home, it is a unique experience to have a dinner accompanied by multicolored and multitaste delicacies served on a plantain leaf. It should be out of his despair that Sri V.R. Krishnachandran wrote the book “purushaarthhakooth” which discusses in a traditional satirical mono act style akin to Kerala (kooth), that it is not Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, the four achievables of a Man according to Hinduism (purusharthas) that is important today, but on the contrary they are vinOdaM (enjoyment), vanchanaM (cheating) aShanam (eating) and rAjasEva (serving the ruler). May be he was ridiculing the modern-day (at that time!) affinity towards acts like eating rather than the real purusharthas. Today, even that eating-style which was a symbol of Malayali culture, is waning and eventually becoming orphaned.
Where the book describes about the eating-ways of that time, some gem-stead verses are available to us. Here are some.
"കണ്ണിമാങ്ങ കരിങ്കാളൻ കനലിൽ ചുട്ട പപ്പടം
കാച്ച്യമോരും തരുന്നാകിൽ കാണാമൂണിന്റെ വൈഭവം" (meaning: If chilly pickles made of tender mangoes, the thick dish made of curd and Colocasia, papad roasted on splinters, and butter milk boiled with kari-leaves and tamarind are served, then the might of the feast can be seen)
Only an old-time keralite can appreciate the might of this feast.
"പുതിയ തയിരുമുച്ചൈരുണ്ണിമാങ്ങായുമെല്ലാം
പുലരിൽ വിരവിൽ നൽകുന്നമ്മമാർക്കായ് നമസ്തേ" (meaning: I bow to those mothers who eagerly serve in the morning with new curd, tender mangoes etc.)
This shows not just the might of malayali-feast, but also how that eating culture is passed on to generations. Although praising the mother’s caressing more than a description of eating, here is another one which explains that it is the responsibility of the mother to hand over the eating-culture to the posterity.
"ഉരുട്ടീട്ടമ്മതൻ കയ്യാൽ
തരുന്നോരുരുളക്കു ഞാൻ
വിരുണിപേൻ വിശേഷിച്ചും
ചെറുപ്പം പോയതാകിലും" (പുരുഷാർത്ഥക്കൂത്ത്. പേജ് 217,218)
(meaning: although am not young now, I praise the rise-ball served by mother with her hands)
Recipes, items to be served in a Kerala feast, where should they be served on a plantain leaf etc. can be seen at many web-sites, blogs, facebook pages etc., in this age of Internet. How to eat properly, correctly, which dish should be eaten along with which other dish/es, which should be hand-squeezed and pasted to eat, which should be eaten with rice balls, etc. are not to be seen described anywhere to my knowledge.
Malayali feast has caught special attention of the world. Such culture traits would die before long along with the language Malayalam. Then, blogs and pages would be available to archaeologists and historians to know the recipes. But they would still be sitting and wondering how the old malayali ate so many dishes served on a plantain leaf within half an hour and what was the resulting enjoyment. Long back, children were instructed in these by the parents. Today they don’t know. Even if they knew they dont have time. Even if they have time, children don’t have interest or time to spare. This article is for those researchers of history along with those inquisitives whose parents don’t know or not have time to describe these.
But just now only I realised my foolishness. Today only a few Keralites can read Malayalam letters. How would they read this? Interestingly those few who can read Malayalam also know this peculiar eating style of Malayali too.
So I decided to translate this into English and publish on this blog itself.
Here it starts (Original version in Malayalam)
Style of eating is one facet of cultural diversity. The styles of eating in Kerala is one of the facets of the culture here. Weather it is for a social feast or at home, it is a unique experience to have a dinner accompanied by multicolored and multitaste delicacies served on a plantain leaf. It should be out of his despair that Sri V.R. Krishnachandran wrote the book “purushaarthhakooth” which discusses in a traditional satirical mono act style akin to Kerala (kooth), that it is not Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, the four achievables of a Man according to Hinduism (purusharthas) that is important today, but on the contrary they are vinOdaM (enjoyment), vanchanaM (cheating) aShanam (eating) and rAjasEva (serving the ruler). May be he was ridiculing the modern-day (at that time!) affinity towards acts like eating rather than the real purusharthas. Today, even that eating-style which was a symbol of Malayali culture, is waning and eventually becoming orphaned.
Where the book describes about the eating-ways of that time, some gem-stead verses are available to us. Here are some.
"കണ്ണിമാങ്ങ കരിങ്കാളൻ കനലിൽ ചുട്ട പപ്പടം
കാച്ച്യമോരും തരുന്നാകിൽ കാണാമൂണിന്റെ വൈഭവം" (meaning: If chilly pickles made of tender mangoes, the thick dish made of curd and Colocasia, papad roasted on splinters, and butter milk boiled with kari-leaves and tamarind are served, then the might of the feast can be seen)
Only an old-time keralite can appreciate the might of this feast.
"പുതിയ തയിരുമുച്ചൈരുണ്ണിമാങ്ങായുമെല്ലാം
പുലരിൽ വിരവിൽ നൽകുന്നമ്മമാർക്കായ് നമസ്തേ" (meaning: I bow to those mothers who eagerly serve in the morning with new curd, tender mangoes etc.)
This shows not just the might of malayali-feast, but also how that eating culture is passed on to generations. Although praising the mother’s caressing more than a description of eating, here is another one which explains that it is the responsibility of the mother to hand over the eating-culture to the posterity.
"ഉരുട്ടീട്ടമ്മതൻ കയ്യാൽ
തരുന്നോരുരുളക്കു ഞാൻ
വിരുണിപേൻ വിശേഷിച്ചും
ചെറുപ്പം പോയതാകിലും" (പുരുഷാർത്ഥക്കൂത്ത്. പേജ് 217,218)
(meaning: although am not young now, I praise the rise-ball served by mother with her hands)
Recipes, items to be served in a Kerala feast, where should they be served on a plantain leaf etc. can be seen at many web-sites, blogs, facebook pages etc., in this age of Internet. How to eat properly, correctly, which dish should be eaten along with which other dish/es, which should be hand-squeezed and pasted to eat, which should be eaten with rice balls, etc. are not to be seen described anywhere to my knowledge.
Malayali feast has caught special attention of the world. Such culture traits would die before long along with the language Malayalam. Then, blogs and pages would be available to archaeologists and historians to know the recipes. But they would still be sitting and wondering how the old malayali ate so many dishes served on a plantain leaf within half an hour and what was the resulting enjoyment. Long back, children were instructed in these by the parents. Today they don’t know. Even if they knew they dont have time. Even if they have time, children don’t have interest or time to spare. This article is for those researchers of history along with those inquisitives whose parents don’t know or not have time to describe these.
