Indian food: A Historical Companion
K. T. Achaya
Achaya, K. T.;
Indian food: A Historical Companion
Oxford University Press, 1998, 340 pages
ISBN 0195644166, 9780195644166
topics: | food | india |
A chemist by training, Achaya was a polymath scholar who wrote on a wide variety of topics from technical texts on oil and oilseeds to the atharva veda.
This volume covers the history of food in India based on a fascinatingly wide range of evidence. Among the earliest are the stone age cave paintings at bhimbetka - about 30,000 years ago - that show hunting of boar and even elephant, and also what looks like women grinding spices. In the bronze and iron age, we have archaeological evidence from harappan times - pulses such as the pea and the chAnA or chick pea is found from middle Harappan site at Kalibangan and the late Harappan area at Daimabad in North Maharashtra.
Other ancient evidence cited includes clay tablet records from Mesopotamia (Sumer) dating to 2300 BC, which refer to a type of oilseed as se-gis-i, which is thought to be the sesame, which was brought in via trade routes from India.
Achaya, a noted sanskrit scholar who has also written a critical analysis of the atharva veda, now turns to the vedic texts. While finding that some of the food evidence in the vedas are hard to rely on, there is no doubt that cow sacrifice was a common practice; usually barren cows would be "destined for the gods" (p.55); clearly the prasAda would be consumed by the worshipper. This is a tradition that stopped a few centuries after Buddha. The prohibition for beef, as is well known today, is not a part of whatever may be "sanAtan" in our "dharma"...
Later texts like the mahAbhArata are cited for a wide range of facts - e.g. there was a systematic cultivation of beehives and procedures (laid out for apiaries) in order to extract honey.
In South India, the late sangam texts (6th c.AD) mention the dosai, but not the idli, which in its present form, is suggested to be an import from Indonesia with which wide trade links existed since the seventh cnetury. Possibly a cook in a king's kitchen may have brought back the idea of fermentation and steaming. A Kannada text from 920 Ad refers to "iddalige". In the five volume encyclopedic compendium, mAnasollAsa, composed in sanksrit by the Chalukyan king Somadeva, son of Vikramaditya Chola, c.1130 AD, we find a reference to a fried urad ball called "iddarika" rubbing shoulders with accounts of how to sexually pleasure a woman.
Food Rituals
Other chapters deal with fascinating details - such as the ritual use of food, which always puzzled me as a child growing up in a brahmin household - the logic of what is allowed, and what is debarred always baffled me. Acchaya also mentions some rules for these distinctions -- such as the separation between kaccha and pucca foods - mostly kacchA food (uncooked food, non-cereals or fruits) are permitted on fast days - originated for observing various hindu days such as Rama Navami, Shivaratri, or ekAdashis. A chapter deals with Mughal food traditions, It is interesting to note that even a prototypical hindu food like khichri, eaten on observation days, also came from the persian-arabic world, as did the quintessential indian sweetmeat of jalebi (zalabiya in Arabic). This volume is a more elaborate and scholarly text, but a short and readable account may also be found in The story of our food by Achaya, written a couple of years later to simplify the account presented here. The following excerpts from two articles that appeared in the Hindu covers a broad sweep through the text. What I like about this scholarly work is how knowing the history of food can reduce the vehemence with which some religious attitudes are maintained. well it may not in practice, but at least it ought to.
Extensive Summary by D. Balasubramaniam
The following is based on two articles titled "Changes in the Indian menu over the ages", published by D. Balasubramanian in the Hindu in 2004 - Part I - Part II It was two years ago that we lost the eminent food scientist Dr. K.T. Achaya. His books - Indian Food, A Historical Companion, The Food Industries of British India, and A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food (all published by Oxford University Press, India) - are a scholarly fund of the history and development of India cuisine.
Idlis : Indonesian import?
They educate as they enlighten and entertain, and occasionally shock us. For example, he points out authoritatively that while Dosai and Vadai have a hoary two-thousand-year history in Tamil country, Idli is a foreign import. The earliest reference to something of a precursor to Idli occurs in the Kannada writing of Sivakotyacharya in 920 AD. [this work mentions 'iddalige', which may be the origin of idli; but this was made from urad dhal batter only.] The subsequent Sanskrit Manasollasa (1130 AD) has 'iddarika', but again made from urad dhal flour only. Tamil apparently only first mentions 'itali' in the 17th century. All these references, Achaya notes, leave out three key aspects of idlis: "the use of rice grits along with urad dhal; the long fermentation of the mix; and the steaming of the batter to fluffiness." Vikram Doctor, Eco Times Indeed, the Chinese chronicler Xuang Zang (7th century AD) categorically stated that there were no steaming vessels in India. Achaya writes that the cooks who accompanied the Hindu Kings of Indonesia between 800-1200 AD, brought fermentation and steaming methods and their dish Kedli to South India (Thirai Kadal Odiyum Tinpandam Thedu!) Happily enough, ancient Indian literature left a lot of information on extant vegetables, pulses, meat, spices, fruits, cooking methods, and even an occasional recipe or two. The history of Indian cuisine can be divided into several stages or periods. The earliest period is before 1500 BC or the Vedic period. The Harappan civilization was known to have rice, barley, wheat, oat, amaranths, jowar, sesame, mustard, chickpeas, masoor, mung and horsegram (kulti, ulavulu), dates, pomegranates, and perhaps bananas. Bones of numerous animals attest to meat (and fish) eating. The large granaries of Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Lothal attest to a sophisticated, aerated, rodent-free storage practice. But, as of date, no recipe has been discovered so that we do not know what a typical Indus valley supper menu contained.
Vedic period
We are more fortunate when we turn to the Vedic period (approximately 1700 BC). The Rig Veda mentions rice, cereals and pulses (masha (urad), mudga (moong) and masura (masoor)) green leafy vegetables (spinach), melons, pumpkins and gourds and in particular lotus stem, cucumber, bottle-gourd, water chestnut, bitter gourd (karavella), radish, brinjal, some aquatic plants (avaka, andika), and fruits such as mangoes, oranges and grapes. Spices such as coriander, turmeric, pepper, cumin, asafoetida, cloves, sesame and mustard were well known, and at least the first four ones are thought to be Indian in origin. Meat eating was prevalent. Pigs, boar, deer, bovines and peacocks were eaten, though chicken (which, though originated in India) was not that desirable. They seem to have been forbidden or discouraged from eating eggs of any kind and in any manner. Turning to Mahabharata, a graphic description of cooking at a picnic has been provided on roasting large pieces of meat on spits, cooked with tamarind, pomegranates and spices with ghee and fragrant leaves. King Yudishtira is said to have fed 10,000 scholars with pork and venison, besides preparation of rice and milk in ghee and honey with fruits and roots (Payasam). It was after this time that a change in our food habits occurred. The Dharma Sutras, Manusmriti and related texts of 500-300 BC began forbidding and proscribing food items based on their `temper' (sattvik - peaceful and ascetic, rajasik medium, energetic that can be either positive or negative, and tamasic or coarse, rough and not all that nice), and prohibiting as many as 54 items (in particular a variety of animals) from the `proper' kitchen. The teachings of Buddhism and Jainism against meat eating had taken hold by this time, and a turn towards preferential vegetarianism began to be expressed in Hindu texts as well. These, plus the diktats on satvik, rajasic, and tamasic practices changed the face of Indian gastronomy already around 300 BC.
Medieval Foods
By the time we reach the Middle Ages (1000-1200 AD), we find several texts and commentaries across the country that talk about culinary habits of local people and their kings. A meal was now expected to have six components of quality and taste: - madhura (sweet) - amla (sour) - lavana (salty) - kata (pungent) - tikta (bitter) - kasaya (astringent) [These appear earlier, in Sushruta (around 600 AD)].
Shrenika's feast
The Bhavissayattakaha (of AD 1000) describes the royal meal of King Shrenika thus. First were served fruits that could be chewed (grape, pomegranate, ber), then fruits to be sucked (sugarcane, oranges, mangoes). Food that could be licked came next and in the fourth course came solid sweet items such as sevaka, modaka and phenaka. Rice followed next and the sixth was of broths. Curd preparation made the seventh course and the eighth ended with thickened milk flavoured with saffron. Items such as parpata (papad) and vataka (vadam) were common.
Foods from the Portuguese
The extant vegetables ranged pretty much as before - cucumber, brinjal, snake gourd and other gourds, yams, French beans and cluster beans, leafy greens, onions and garlic, coconut, cowpea, sweet potato (?) and such. It was with the entry of the Portuguese that a floodgate of new vegetables entered the Indian land and kitchens. They brought potato, tomato, tapioca, groundnuts, corn, papaya, pineapple, guava, avocado, rajma (kidney bean), cashew, sapota (chiku), and of course capsicum and chilli in all its forms (and I felt bad hearing about idli importation!). Perhaps the cauliflower and cabbage came from Europe or Latin America too, but certainly a particular form of cottage cheese did come from the Portuguese. It was this that became the chhana of Bengal and Orissa - the base for many Bengali sweets (Sandesh in its modern form, and of course inventions called Rasogolla, Khirmohan, Mouchak, Pantua, Sitabhog, Chhena Puda, and so forth). The Portuguese word for grain, grao, was taken up to describe Indian pulses as Bengal gram, horse gram and other grams. While the Arabs and Central Asians brought bajra, jowar, lobia and forms of bread (roti) into India, the Portuguese enriched Indian food through their diverse introductions. When we eat Aloo-poori, we partake of the richness of the produce of people from West Asia and Latin America!
Mughal influence
The next major influence on Indian cuisine came with the Mughals, starting with Babar who came in 1526 to stay but four years here. While he remained aloof to the Indian supper-tables, his son Humayun took to them easier and also introduced a few new items to it. It is with Akbar, and through the book Ain-i-Akbari, that we know of many new dishes, ovens and recipes that came into India through the Mughal court, including dishes such as: - khichri - kabab - palak-sag - do-pyaza - biryani - dumpukht - pilaf - naan - haleem - tandoori - harisa - chapati (phulka) - qutab (samosa) - khushka - yakhni uzbek samsa [AM: The samosa is believed to have originated in C. Asia in the 10th c. It is a popular snack across Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, where it is known as samsa. It finds mention in the work of the Iranian historian Abul-Fazl Bayhaqi (d.1077). It arrived in India around 13th c. most likely through silk route traders. from samosa-connection.com: Amir Khusrao, prolific poet of Delhi royalty, observed in 1300 that the royal set seemed partial to the "samosa prepared from meat, ghee, onion and so on". In 1334, the renowned traveller Ibn Battuta wrote about the sambusak: "minced meat cooked with almonds, pistachios, onions and spices placed inside a thin envelop of wheat and deep-fried in ghee". And the samosa obtained a royal stamp with its inclusion in the Ain-i-Akbari which declared that among dishes cooked with wheat there is the qutab, "which the people of Hind called the sanbusa". ] Some things seem to have remain unchanged from the days of Akbar: The delicious cold kulfi was made at court by freezing a mixture of khoa, pista nuts and zafran essence in a metal cone after sealing the open top with dough. (The only modification today is to use aluminium or plastic cones with their own caps). Jahangir, unlike his father, enjoyed meat, but will be remembered for popularizing falooda (a jelly made from boiled wheat strainings mixed with fruit juices and cream). With the Mughal introduction of the varieties of bread, meat dishes (particularly of fowl) and the ovens to make them, and their methods to make ice locally, the cuisine of much of North India transformed forever. The Chinese had their influence too, though not to the extent of the Portuguese and the Moghuls. Mulberry, blackberry and the litchi fruit came to us through them. Of Chinese origin are also the sweet cherry and the peach. China also developed the leafy variety of Brassica juncea (rai), which we in India use as a vegetable. Camphor is a Chinese import and introduction (it is even today called chinakarpura). The soybean was imported from China into India in 1908 for cultivation, though it caught on widely only after the U.S. variety was introduced in 1970s. And the most precious introduction of China to India (and to the world at large) is of course their cha or teh, namely tea. Just imagine what we do first thing in the morning - we pay obeisance to the Arabs with a cup of coffee (they brought it to us in the 1600s) or to the Chinese with our steaming cuppa.
British : meager food imports
Compared to this cornucopia, the British brought us little in terms of food. [Indeed most of the food exchange went the other way; one of the most popular takeout food in britain today is curry ; going by spices sold, Indian food is also cooked extensively in British homes.] Local varieties of apple are recorded to have occured in Kashmir (called amri, tarehli and maharaji), and Dalhara in 1100 AD talked about a "ber as big as a fist and very sweet, grown in North Kashmir", which is likely an apple. But it was the colourful Britisher Frederick "Pahari" Wilson who established a flourishing apple farm in Garhwal, where they grow red and juicy Wilson apples to this day. Also, we must express our gratitude to the American Mr. Stokes, [who] settled in Kotgarh near Simla in the 1920s and started apple orchards there, and helped in the proper grading, packing and marketing of the fruit. The two varieties he introduced, called `Delicious', have now become the major Indian apple varieties, making the Himachal apple growers happy and more prosperous than before. He married a local girl and settled down. His descendants Smt. Vidya Stokes (politician) and Dr. Vijay Stokes (scientist) are well known. Though Australian apples are increasingly found in the Indian market, it is still the Delicious that rules the roost. Next time you bite into an Indian apple, you are celebrating Indo-American amity!
Today's India : Not mostly vegetarian
Contrary to popular belief, India is not a predominantly vegetarian
country. But a quarter of the population is reckoned, based on census data,
to be vegetarian.
Gujarat : 69 per cent is vegetarian,
Rajasthan : 60 per cent
Punjab-Haryana : 54 per cent
Uttar Pradesh : 50 per cent
Madhya Pradesh : 45 per cent
Karnataka : 34 per cent,
Maharashtra : 30 per cent
Tamil Nadu : 21 per cent
Andhra Pradesh : 16 per cent
Assam : 15 per cent
Kerala, Orissa and West Bengal : 6 per cent vegetarian
While part of this vegetarianism is economic, a more compelling force is
ethical and even religious. Jains avoid meat totally while many Buddhists
in India are vegetarians.
Brahmins, Saivite non-Brahmins of South India and several Vaishnavite sects
across the country avoid meat. Interestingly though Brahmins of East India,
Kashmir and the Saraswats of the Southwest are allowed fish and some meat.
Even among meat-eaters, beef was and is taboo. This practice seems to be at
least 2000 years old (Achaya quotes DD Kosambi, who quotes the Vedic sage
Yagnavalkya as preferring it. Vasishta, Gautama, Apasthamba and Baudhayana,
in their Sutras (ca. 300 BC) prohibit killing cows and oxen and eating
beef. It had become prevalent by 1100 AD across India, since Al-Biruni wrote
that while beef eating was prevalent earlier, it was not allowed later.
Achaya gives economic, ethical and respect for its use as reasons. Emperor
Humayun (16th century) is quoted as saying "beef is not a food fit for the
devout" and avoided it. Akbar too was similarly respectful. And while
Tamils of the Sangam period relished beef (Perumpanooru describes it), it
became taboo or discouraged after the advent of people from elsewhere. As a
result, much of India and certainly many Hindu communities avoid beef
eating.
Contents
Chapter 1 : Ancestral legacies
The world, man and his food 1
Tools of early man in India 1
The first paintings 5
Language and food 7
Words for food in Sanskrit 7
Box 1: A Word Puzzle 9
Indian words in foreign tongues 11
Chapter 2 : Harappan spread
Origins 13
Box 2: Weighing, Measuring, Counting 14
Foods raised in the Indus Valley 15
Raising crops 19
Methods of storing food 21
Ways of preparing and eating food 23
Box 3: Extracting Metals, and Using Them 25
Trade 26
Decline of the Harappan Civilization 27
Chapter 3 : Foods of the gods
The Aryans 28
Vedic Agriculture 28
Box 4: Sanskrit Sources 32
Cereals and pulses 33
Milk Products 34
Fruits and vegetables 35
Oilseeds and oils 36
Salt, spices and condiments 37
Sweet foods 37
Box 5: The Mysterious Soma 38
Water and other beverages 39
The expansion of the Aryans 40
Chapter 4 : The foods of south india
Influences on the food culture of the south 41
Archaeological food finds in south India 42
Food in Tamil literature 43
Box 6: Tamil Literature 44
Rice in southern diet 45
Other foods of the south 46
Box 7: Chewing the Betel Leaf 48
Trade in food in ancient south India 50
Chapter 5 : Meat and drinks
The prevalence of meat-eating 53
Box 8: The Dressing of Meat 54
The emergence of prohibition and the spread of vegetarianism 55
Alcoholic beverages 57
Box 9: A Choice of Liquors 59
Chapter 6: Indian food ethos
Aryan Food beliefs 61
The idea of food 61
The classification of food 61
Kaccha and pucca food 62
Pollution and food 63
Domestic cooking practices 64
Eating rituals and ceremonies 64
Box 10: Hindu food taxonomy 65
Box 11: Good host and honoured guest 66
Festival and temple foods 69
Fasts 69
Buddhist food concepts 70
Jain ethos 72
The Sikh dispensation 72
The Jewish food laws 73
The Christian ethic 74
Food among the Parsis 74
Food and Islam 75
Chapter 7 : Food and the indian doctors
Hot and cold foods 77
Box 12: Fathers of Indian Medical science 78
Recommended amounts and kinds of food 79
Box 13: A Widespread Food Theory 80
Foodgrains 82
Oilseeds and oils 83
Vegetables and fruit 83
Milk and its products 83
Flesh foods 84
Sweet items 85
Salt, Vinegar and asafoetida 86
Water 87
Therapeutic diets 87
Chapter 8 : Royal Fare
Manasollasa 88
Rice, wheat and imagination 88
Box 14: Royal Authors 89
Meat for a King 90
The many wonders of milk 91
Satisfying a sweet tooth 91
Foods of a royal couple 92
Karnataka 92
Royal feasts 92
Dining together 92
Sivatattvaratnakara 93
The royal kitchen and cooking accoutrements 93
Kinds of food 94
Accompaniments 94
North India 95
Epic feasts 95
Three royal meals 95
Box 15: Royal Recipes 96
Chapter 9 : Utensils and food preparation
Domestic operations 98
Grinding and pounding 98
Ways of cooking 101
Kitchen and table utensils 103
Box 16: Utensils of the Vedic Sacrifice 104
Large-scale operations 108
Professional cooking and dining 108
Alcoholic drinks 108
Parched, puffed and parboiled rice 110
Oilseed processing 110
Sugarcane pressing and juice processing 112
Honey 114
Salt 114
Cold Water and ice 115
Box 17: Water-ices and Ice-Creams 116
Chapter 10 : Regional cuisines
South India 118
Box 18: Karnataka Food Progression 119
Karnataka 118
The Kodavas 122
Hyderabad 123
Kerala 123
Box 19: Snacks of the South 125
Eastern india 128
Bengal 128
Assam 128
Orissa 133
Western India 133
Gujarat 133
Box 20: Sixteenth-Century Gujarathi Dishes 135
Bohri Muslims 136
The Parsis 136
Goa 136
The East Indians 137
North India 137
Kashmir 137
Box 21: Breads of India 138
Rajasthan 140
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar 140
Chapter 11 : Food tales of the early travellers
The Greeks and the foods of India 142
Seekers from China 145
Arab reactios 151
Box 22: Foreign Snapshots of Indian Kings 146
Box 23: Trees of the Buddha 149
Chapter 12 : Muslim bonus
The Sultan's etiquette 154
Box 24: The Jilebi 155
The food of the gentry 156
Kings' drinks 157
The Imperial cuisine 158
The fruits of Hindustan 159
Box 25: Only Ganges Water for the Emperor 161
The common fare 162
Chapter 13 : The coming of the europeans
The early comers 163
On the wonders of Vijayanagar 165
Box 26: Cities of Yore 166
Scientist travellers 168
The Jesuits 169
British narratives on Indian food 170
Box 27: Heady Stuff 171
The diaries of a mixed bouquet of visitors 173
Colonial repast 176
Chapter 14 : Staples of yore
Cereals 179
Box 28: Plant Evolution 180
Pulses 188
Oilseeds 193
Box 29: Seeds as Weights 195
Chapter 15 : Pleasing the palate
Tubers 198
The edible aroids 198
Yams 198
Sweet potato 199
Vegetables 199
Green leafy vegetables 199
Radish and carrot 200
Brinjal, bhendi and ambadi 201
Fruits 202
Melons, gourds and pumpkins 202
Early fruits 204
Major cultivated fruits 206
Plums, pears, apples and their like 206
Box 30: A Bunch of Bananas 207
Box 31: Citrus Relatives 211
Spices and condiments 213
Pungent spices from below the ground 214
The Pepper family 214
Other spices 215
The Sugarcane 215
Origin 215
Chapter 16 : Bounty from the new world
Oilseeds 218
Nuts 222
Fruits 223
Vegetables 225
Pleasurable foods 227
Box 32: Early Animal Transfers 234
Box 33: Reaching America Before Columbus 236
References 239
Glossary and Index of non-English words 260
Index of Latin names 285
Author Index 291
General Index 298
Reviews : product descr (amazon)
The cuisine of India is as ancient as it is varied, and in this attractive, oversized volume, food expert A.K. Achaya captures the full range and history of the Indian diet, from prehistoric times to the modern era. An informative volume that boasts over 150 black-and-white illustrations (including line drawings, photographs, and maps) and 55 color photographs on 20 plates, Indian Food draws on archaeology, anthropology, literature, philology, and botany to cook up a smorgasbord of fascinating facts about this exotic fare. Achaya begins with the earliest food preparations of paleolithic and neolithic times, the cooking of the Harappan people (archeological evidence suggests they may have eaten baked chapati--griddle-roasted wheat cakes--food still popular today). He covers the diet of the Aryans (using information found in their rich Vedic literature); examines regional cuisines, such as those of Karnataka, Hyderabad, Bengal, Gujarat, Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh; describes the customs, rituals, and beliefs observed by different communities and religious groups; and traces the gradual shift towards vegetarianism with the advent of Buddhism and Jainism. In thirty-three boxed sections, he takes the reader on various sidetrips, touching on the Indian use of Bhang (cannabis) and opium, the history of ice cream (ranging from Marco Polo to Dolly Madison), the use of natural grains as the basis of early weight systems (3 black mustard seeds equaled 1 white mustard seed; 6 white mustard seeds equaled 1 middle-sized barley corn), and the names of alcoholic drinks that appear in Sanskrit literature, ranging from pre-Aryan Sura (made from barley or rice flour) to Harahuraka (wine made from black grapes from Afghanistan). Achaya also discusses non-Indian foods, such as tapioca, which was an important commodity for trade in South America as far back as 3000 BC, and the potato, first domesticated near Lake Titicaca, sometime between 5000 and 2000 BC. Indeed, the book provides a wealth of historical information on food in general, revealing that coffee may have been first used in Ethiopia, that the coconut evolved 20 million years ago in New Guinea, that carrots were first domesticated in Afghanistan (where they were greenish colored and rich in anthocyanin), and that the word banana is of African origin and may be connected with the Arabic word banan (fingers or toes). With illustrations ranging from neolithic cave paintings from Madhya Pradesh, to full color photographs of modern Indian foods, Indian Food offers a rich cornucopia of information on this flavorful and popular cuisine. ---blurb : This Companion outlines the enormous variety of cuisines, food materials and dishes that collectively fall under the term 'Indian food'. Drawing upon material from a range of sources - literature, archaeology, epigraphic records, anthropology, philology, and botanical and genetic studies - the book chronologically details the history of Indian food, beginning with prehistoric times and ending with British rule. Achaya discusses the various regional cuisines, theories and classification of food, as well as the customs, rituals and beliefs observed by different communities and religious groups. This book won an international prize awarded by the Italian food promotion organization, Premio Langhe Ceretto in 1995. Extensively revised since its first publication in 1994, this rich storehouse of fascinating information on Indian food will interest food aficionados, historians, anthropologists, and general readers. About the Author : K.T. Achaya (1927-2002) pursued scientific research in the areas of oilseeds, vegetable oils, processed foods and nutrition. His other books include The Food Industries of British India (OUP, 1994) and A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food (OUP, 1998). see also: bio in Current Science (http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/oct252002/1037.pdf)
Relevant information
Food in India, Olivelle, Patrick, Journal of Indian Philosophy, 23, 3, 367--380, 1995}, This is a review of The Eternal Food: Gastronomic Ideas and Experiences of Hindus and Buddhists. by R. S. Khare (ed.) Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992. Issues relating to food -- what one is permitted to eat, how one should prepare it, when and how much one should eat, from whom one can accept it, with whom one can eat -- these are central questions both in the legal literature of dharmaddstra and in the minds of ordinary people. An ancient Vedic text uses food and eating to classify all reality -- food and eaters of food, that's all there is! [satapatha brAhmaNa. 11.1.6.19 ] The historian Caroline Walker Bynum (1987) has shown how the study of food can open new avenues of inquiry into the religious history of medieval Europe. Bynum has drawn our attention to the close relation between food and women; men may be involved in the production of food, but it is usually women who convert food into a meal. At least within the family, food is one social product over which women have control. In pregnancy and lactation, women transform their own body as food for their offspring. These unique experiences make food a stronger symbol and experience for women than it is for men. Food, Bynum has shown, permitted medieval women to gain some form of control over their selves and their circumstances, often through extraordinary means such as the refusal to take food at all. Phenomena related to food and fasting play a more central role in the claim to holiness of female saints than they do in the lives of their male counterparts. Bynum's work demonstrates how important the study of food is for understanding the lives and histories of women in medieval Europe; but its importance surely applies as well to other times and to other parts of the world. Good and proper food not only creates a good body (medicine) but also a good mind (yoga). What you eat both reflects what you are and determines what you will be (Khare 1992, 27-- 52; White 1992). What one eats both demarcates one's social boundaries and demonstrates one's spiritual aspirations. The connection between food and sex is, of course, well known. An old and famous Upanisadic text, for example, connects food with semen and eating with sexual intercourse: Man, Gautama, is in fact a fire .... In that very fire gods offer food. Semen springs from that oblation. Woman, Gautama, is in fact a fire .... In that very fire gods offer semen. The fetus springs ` from that oblation. [3 Brhaddranyaka UpaniSad, 6.2.12--13; Chandogya Upanisad, 5.7--8.
bio: Thammu Achaya - tribute to a gastronome scientist
D. Balasubramanian, The Hindu 2002 On the 5th of September, India became poorer by losing a distinguished citizen - the food and nutrition expert K. Thammu Achaya of Bangalore. Born 79 years ago, of Coorgi parents in Kollegal, Tamilnadu, Dr. Achaya distinguished himself as a scholar, specialist in oils and fats, historian, writer, music analyst, photographer and conversationalist. The term `renaissance man' is no longer used in the media - and for good reason since there are so few of such people who excel in diverse fields; he was one of them.
Good Lord! Idli is not Indian!!
But where he really pricked my Tamilian bubble was with his well argued case that Idli is not really an Indian invention, but might have been imported from Indonesia! In Box 19 of his Indian Food: A Historical Companion, on the snacks of the South, he first points out that while early Tamil Sangam literature talks of Dosai, reference to Idli comes only after 920 AD. Even as late as the 17th century, the Indian Idli missed three elements of its modern version - use of rice grits, fermentation overnight and steaming of the batter. Steaming is an ancient Chinese method and Xuan Zang, the Chinese traveller to India in the 7th century, says that India did not have a steaming vessel. Apparently, cooks who accompanied the Hindu kings of Indonesia during their visits home during the 8th to 12th centuries AD brought fermentation techniques with them, as also perhaps steaming methods and vessels. As can be seen, his research into food science was thorough and imbued with a sense of historical continuity. For example, he points out how in 300 BC, the Arthasastra described the balanced meal of a gentleman as 500 g rice, 125 g dal, 56 g oil and salt. This is the same in essentials as the recommended balanced diet that the Indian Council of Medical Research laid down in 1987 AD. Dr. Achaya had a cosmopolitan, yet demanding taste in art and music, and readily told apart the inspiring from the imitative or the inflicting. Listening to some pleasing film songs of Ilayaraja, he at once pointed out to me how they were direct lifts from the Brazilian Samba and Bossa Nova songs. I am told that while at Hyderabad he was one of the singers of a city choir.
bookexcerptise is maintained by a small group of editors. get in touch with us! bookexcerptise [at] gmail [dot] .com. This review by Amit Mukerjee was last updated on : 2015 Sep 08