There was an
interesting article appearing here on
the origins of the popular Indian breakfast the dosa. It goes without saying
that Indian food has origins in perhaps most unexpected of the places. The article
seems to posit the origins of dosa in Bidar district of Karnataka or at least
the recipes were described by the rulers there almost a thousand years ago. It is
common knowledge that dosa perhaps originated in the Tamil country but this
puts a new theory to play. In this context, it would be interesting to examine
book “The Story of our Food” by K T Achaya published by Universities Press
(2000). The author does trace the story of our Indian dining table to the
Harappan civilization. While the author does add credence to some myths on
contributions of others especially the Islamic rulers and the Arab world to the
Indian cuisine, the book does touch upon interesting pointers that drove
innovation in the Indian kitchen. Therefore, an examination of this short book
might well give us some insights into the Indian food history.
The Harappan
civilization was known to have developed agricultural systems to a great degree
of relative sophistication as compared those times. The large granaries whose
ruins have been discovered suggest that agrarian cultivation was common and
large quantum of food grains were stored in these granaries. Evidence seems to
point towards wheat and barley as the preferred crops. It is perhaps not
surprising given the geography that seems to favour these crops. Yet agriculture
was established points out the rise in the first wave as Toffler would term it
to earlier than expected. In fact discovery of tandoor like devices, mechanical
grinders etc. indicate a number of innovations in Indian kitchen happened
during those centuries. For a number of centuries later, it was only the incremental
innovation that seems to have happened not the disruptive or radical innovation
as one knows it. Perhaps the discovery of electricity and invention of the
associated appliances changed the way the Indian food was prepared.
Some more
interesting insights are derived from reading the book. Contrary to the
perception about rice being a south Indian food, paddy cultivation seems to have
occurred first in the north or the east before permeating into the south. Therefore,
it is rather surprising to find northern parts not adopting rice whereas
southern regions of the country have found widespread adoption of rice and rice
based dishes. In fact, paddy seems to
have fascinated and mystified Alexander and his men who had come to conquer
India. The Bengali sweet tooth might have to do with the sugarcane varieties
available there. Apparently right from the Aryan times, sweets seem to have
found a distinct place in the Indian cuisine. These include the famous kheer or
even the shrikhand. Idli, another popular Indian breakfast do not seem to have
emerged from the Tamil country as assumed. The first references to idli in
India seem to have occurred in Kannada texts or in Sanskrit texts. In fact, the
book also posits a theory that idlis would have been first made in Indonesia,
long ruled by Hindu kings before their diffusion into the Indian sub-continent.
We do not know whether any cooks from Udupi region did visit Indonesia to bring
back the recipe given its first known reference to be in the Kannada
literature. Shrikhand again seems to have existed from the Aryan times in the
north before its adoption in the Maratha country which we have associated it
with currently. Rasogollas seem to have been fairly recent innovation less than
200 years or so as the book claims though it attributes it to Bengal. A re-reading
of the book might ignite the Bengali-Oriya battles for the ownership of the
rasogolla.
The book does
lend credence as pointed earlier to certain myths about contribution of food by
Islamic rulers. While there has been no doubt lot of exchanges between the Arab
world and Indian civilization for centuries predating Islam, the recent
tendency has been to attribute anything novel or good in India to the Islamic
rulers and Mughals in particular Biryani might have become popular during the
Mughal era but similar dishes had existed in India long before. It was perhaps
that romanticism associated with Bhopal, Hyderabad or Lucknow styles of cooking
all associated with Muslim rulers might have lent to the myth. But this Mughal
contribution to Indian cuisine must be investigated in depth and essentially
the separate the myth from the reality. This is prominent given the tendency of
the public intellectuals to increasingly associate Mughals with Indian progress
as the Hindu fightback increases in intensity. Garlic and onion might have
remained prohibited because of religious reasons and thus the Mughal era might
have brought them on to the mainstream. Another
such thing that gets credence in the book is the attribution of coffee being linked
to Mecca and brought to Bababudangiri in Chikmaglur district of Karnataka.
Non vegetarianism
was of course expectedly common, but Indian conversion to vegetarianism was
pretty fast. In fact, the widespread popularity of vegetarianism in the masses
apparently should indicate the success of the food production and distribution
system in the country right from the pre-Buddhist or Jain era. Interestingly,
vension or deer meat seem to have been popular delicacy for many centuries as
records point out to. Yet in the current world or even in recent times, there is
hardly any record of vension being a delicacy of choice except perhaps among
the few tribal communities. While many wild animals have been hunted for food,
the rise of agriculture and domestic animals like sheep or chicken would have
resulted in the shifts from jungle meat to the domesticated meat. However, what
is significant is the beef has been frowned upon since the Aryan days or
perhaps even before for a variety of causes. The pork seem to have been a
delicacy especially in the south. Interestingly, wild boar was captured, reared
and fed before being killed in contrast to the perception of it being killed in
the wild for food.
There are many
such interesting anecdotes and instances in the book. The book is of course
quite short (around 89 pages) yet offers deep insights into the way Indian food
has evolved. It is without doubt a great contribution to the literature. One of
course needs to go in depth to each of these stories to find greater engagement
with the Indian cuisine. For instance, was there an economic linkage for ghee as
cooking oil for the elite while the normal people used sesame oil. There also
needs to be investigated the reasons for food habits and the differences
therein across castes and religions. It might have had to do with the geography
and the occupations they were engaged in. Ragi seems to have come in from
Africa and so is jowar and this needs to be examined at length. Having said
that, the book is valuable and interesting reads and adds sufficient depth to
the knowledge of our Indian food.
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