Things you wanted to know but were afraid to ask! FOOD!

guerik, You have to forget the Western idea of taking moutyhfulls of different things individually. especially the liquid things like rasam and samba are well-mixed with the rice before eating.

The chutneys: take some on a finger and add it to the handfull of food you are about to pick up.

This is a very interesting thread... Thanks Digital Drifter.

Rasam and Sambhar are south Indian liquid food items that need to be mixed with rice and savoured. Yeah, Rasam is a favourite for some to drink like a soup.

The top half of the Plantain leaf typically looks like this in a South Indian Brahmin household.

From left to right...

Small Banana piece with sugar
Spicy Vegetable (typically Potato or Plaintain)
Non-spicy vegetable (Could be Coconut mixed Cabbage/Beans)
Avial (Gravy, Lots of vegetables boiled with coconut, optionally flavoured with curd)
Koottu (Vegetables gravy... either Koottu or Avial is prepared)
Sweet Pachchadi (Pineapple or Mango 'spicy' mix)
Cucumber Pachchadi (Cucumber flavoured with curd and spices)
Vadai (lentils soaked, ground with spices and deep fried)
Chips (potato or raw plaintain)
Appalam (also called Papad)
Sweet (any of the traditional Indian sweet)
Pickle

Bottom Half from right to left

Payasam (liquid sweet made of rice/lentil and seasoned with dry fruits)
Plain Rice
Ghee
Dal (Lentil)

Bottom half is usually left for mixing and eating rice. The order usually is
Dal
Sambhar
Rasam
Butter milk

Sambhar, Rasam and Butter milk are supposed to be mixed with rice, while the dishes in the top half is to be used for savouring. Like, you take a morsel of sambhar rice and a bit of vegetable or Pachchadi and eat them together. U can bite into the crunchy Vadai and Appalam in between. Payasam/sweet is usually consumed at the end. (Simply because sweet dishes make you feel 'full' easily).

Vadai is the thing that looks like a doughnut

Is that a statement or a question? Strange way to followup a post by apmk. :-) In any case, you're right!

wow i'm indian and most of this doesnt happen at my home...only food is given to crows for lunch as its said dat crows are ur ancestors and its for their blessings...

Well , you live and you learn. sometimes the wrong things too!
The trick is to know which, of course

Sorry, it does look a bit off-hand. It was a hurried post meant to enlarge on apmk's post. It is one of those things many people who haven't eaten South Indian food might never have heard of .

If this post doesn't make sense that's because it's a late-nighter and I'm rushing to bed. Long trip in the morning. (No, not the long trip! That comes in January.

MAHADEVA!

errrmm....what?

don't you know? that's what we yell every afternoon right before lunch when we take the first scoop of rice out to the balcony for the birds..

That's a new one for me...

having never done any (that means ANY) of the practices mentioned in the original post
i cant help agree with crvlvr that "there is no single tradition that applies to the whole of india". also i dont know any family among my friends relatives acquaintances who do these. most likely this is what someone should expect in "very orthodox, "with-out the times", not so educated" sort of indian families, that too from the south. 80% of middle class indian familes and 100% of the jet setting and/or "ac first class" (as in, the types whom you encounter in ac first class coupes of indian trains) indians, have moved on from these age old and frankly uncivilized habits. but yes, some of these habits arnt too untypical amongst a large secton of soceity (sleeper class ???)

Hehehe.. and the watchman of the apartment building's name is Mahadeva, so sometimes he asks "enna ma?!"

Haha..

The point being? If you looked at the content and title of the original post, it was about things you might/might not see being done and *not* a broad brush about the whole of India.

I find your post condescending and worse, arrogant & insensitive. For someone who's never known any of the above practices(your words) on what basis do you find it 'frankly uncivilized habits'? Would you that I pass judgment on your culture and your upbringing given that I hardly know anything about Bengal(if you're from Bengal, say)?

Frankly, you're first person I've met who's sank Bengal's stock a notch given that most bengalis I've met have been erudite and of the most pleasant disposition.

'unclivilized habits', my foot! Since when were you appointed a culture judge?

:-). same goes for my friend Krishna, who, whenever his mother exclaims 'Krishna'[1] in exasperation, he politely sticks his head out of his room,

'Koopit ya?' ('you called?')

--
[1] for the others, like in exclaiming 'Jesus!'