I have recently joined this group and I have been enjoying perceptive postings in this list. And of course, like many of you, have journeyed the midieval times with the help of Kalki... Have wondered how long the tamil food we love - idly, pongal, sambar, chutney, rasam etc. etc. - have been in existence? Specifically, have you seen instances of what food the folks were having in PS and similar historic novels? More generally, have you come across any interesting article/book on the subject of evolution of Tamil food?
much regards, Srini.
P.S: I remember some mentions of food by Valli and Ponnan in a conversation with Marthanda Bhoopathi in Parthiban Kanavu, that's about it.
Srini, coincidentally i read not one but two articles on food history in the recent past. I am posting links below. Contrary to what we think idli,dosa and rasam are not tamil dishes. They belong to Udupi/karnataka. I don't now about sambar exactly it might have originated from Puli kuzhambu in TN. The milky coffee we make in TN also has its origins in Udupi.
PS mentions adai, kootanjoru among dishes eaten, as far as I know. There are more PS experts here. One point to remember that dishes were lot more difficult to make in those days than now when so much is automated.Also in those days people preferred to eat more filling meals since snacks and small eats were not frequent and physical labor intense. The coarsely ground adai is a very old dish and used to be made as a hand poured layer on the tava, not like dosa of modern times. I learnt his from the history of 'pesarattu' - the adai of Andhra.
we had a detailed discussion once actively particapation from depa prakash a food scientist. it was she who raised the question ( after reading the english version) that how could kalki mention maize when it came into india 500 years after the PS story.
finaly we discovered it was an error in translation. whereas kalki talks about cholam( a minor millet) the translator had put it as makka cholam ( maize)
Here I would like to highlight one info from PS. When VD was riding on a horse (Place I dont remember) he will sense the smells of food from the houses, here Kalki would describe all as "Vaasam / Manam" but when he said about non veg he would say "kari varukkum naatram". Have you noticed this?
Thats correct Mr. Mouli, but when he was telling all as "manam" continuosly but suddenly when he comes to nonveg he mentions as "naatram". So there he felt something different. Let me check and post the exact phrase from PS where it comes.
If I remember right VD is also expressed saying that naavil echil oorum due to the natram. There is also mention of pongal puliyodarai... Curious question,when did we 'invent' sambar?
VD must have missed his non veg food as he spent most of his time with Amudan and thirumalai who were staunch grass eaters; but AK and samburavaiyar clans who are keen hunters and might have eaten non veg. What about Poonguzhali - fish?
I think, even recent historical novelists are silent on the food habits and have not explicitly stated that RR, VD, Kundavai and the lot ate non veg food. All over India, non veg food is discouraged, not prohibited. Sampath
naatram is actually smell...good smell... durnatram is bad smell. in our times we have changed tamil so much that we give different meanings to words than it actually meant.
Kalki actually was progressive to say even this much given his conservative audience. There was a debate sometime ago on literary classics and where Kalki's writing stands. He may not be classified as serious writer by literary critics for this reason that he wanted to cater to the masses by diluting reality. (He did a lot of that with social stories also).
but AK and > samburavaiyar clans who are keen hunters and might have eaten non veg.
yes orther than taxidermy which seems to have occupied an entire room in the kadambur palace, they must have had other uses for the animals they killed.
> What about Poonguzhali - fish?
she was also an avid devaram singer another generalisation of kalki to make her accepted by the reading class
> I think, even recent historical novelists are silent on the food habits and have not explicitly stated that RR, VD, Kundavai and the lot ate non veg food.
i am sure guilty of it but in KM needed to follow kalki's trends. In TOK i think there are mentions of meat eating and hunting.
another point is the lack of info we had on varieties of food available. for example when were idlies and dosas introdued. however on the contrary in my next novel 'Madurai' i have pages and pages on arabic, mongol and turkish cuisine.
You know Venkat, I still remember some 'thinnai pechu' from my childhood days, I was not a very healthy kid and home schooled till 8th grade so saw a lot of this. My grandfather and his father and a lot of oldies tha time would get together to enjoy vethalai/smoke cigars and well..talk. Kalki was not terribly popular, even for the little he wrote and said. That is one reason why I developed such an admiration for him. Like his guru Tagore he wrote about women's rights, about casteism and a host of issues that made the strongly conservative audience well..think at least. He sugar coated a lot of it of course, medicine needs to be sugar coated lot of times but he did what he could. Literary critics often talk of writing reality as it is - Tagore, Bharathi, lot of writers did have courage to do that and maybe he did not go as far as they did, but he tried.
so saw a lot of this. My grandfather and his father and a lot of oldies tha time would get together to enjoy vethalai/smoke cigars and well..talk. Kalki was not terribly popular, even for the little he wrote and said. That is one reason why I developed such an admiration for him. Like his guru Tagore he wrote about women's rights, about casteism and a host of issues that made the strongly conservative audience well..think at least. He sugar coated a lot of it of course, medicine needs to be sugar coated lot of times but he did what he could. Literary critics often talk of writing reality as it is - Tagore, Bharathi, lot of writers did have courage to do that and maybe he did not go as far as they did, but he tried. > >
How interesting really would very much like to know who his influences were. The Thiru Vi Ka style tamil was adopted by lot of writers, like Akilan for example. After a few chapters the reader will have a sense of irritation and want to give up. BTW even if we watch tamil movies of the 50s and 60s in the midst of social movie dhideernu hero thooya thamizhla pesa arambippar. Really hilarious.
If I remember right VD is also expressed saying that naavil echil oorum due to the natram. There is also mention of pongal puliyodarai... Curious question,when did we 'invent' sambar?
If I remember right VD is also expressed saying that naavil echil oorum due to the natram. There is also mention of pongal puliyodarai... Curious question,when did we 'invent' sambar?
If I remember right VD is also expressed saying that naavil echil oorum due to the natram. There is also mention of pongal puliyodarai... Curious question,when did we 'invent' sambar?
The genesis of this dish has an interesting tale linked to it. The Marathas were ruling Tanjore. Sambhoji was a great cook (the male clan members to note) and very fond of his amti (jaggery) with a handful of the tart kokum (aamchur/mango powder) thrown in. In a particular season the kokum that was imported from the Maratha homeland did not reach the bare larder of the king's kitchen. Sambhoji was cooking and the minions were shivering in their dhothis to tell him that his favourite dish could not be made that day. A smart Vidushak, who had been elected sous chef for the day, decided to solve the problem. He whispered in the king's ears that the locals used very little tamarind pulp to gain a better sourness to the curry and that Sambhoji should experiment with this variation. Voila, the dish with the tuvar dal, vegetables, spices and the tamarind pulp was cooked and served by the king to his coterie. The court declared the dish an outstanding preparation (they had no choice with the king as Chef) and thus was born sambhoji's amti that in time became sambhar" Thus the modern Sambar which we use is named after a king of Tanjore called Sambhaji. Due to distance from his native place and difficulty in getting Kokum, he used Tamarind and possibly added dhal, which is mainly grown in Maharashtra and Gujarat. He might have added Pure search must have gone in, in getting to the modern version of several types of Sambar.
As far as I have read PS, I'll try to list out the food items in it. In the first chapter kootanjoru, at Sendhan Amuthan's house idiyappam, vellamapaniyaram with thengai paal, sadham and pulikkari, thayir, in the second part Poonguzhali brings him pongal I think, again kootanjoru with all the soldiers, varagarisi soru and valli kizhangu in the ship where oomai rani makes it, Thirumalai refers to pongal,puliyodharai. That's all Ican remember!