When I posted my Pav Bhaji video(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zvvzk1u_os) a while back, I had made this observation that almost every vegetable in the Pav Bhaji was introduced by the Portuguese or the British in the last 150 years. This made a lot of folks wonder in the comments section – Wait, what vegetables did we eat before these plundering Europeans arrived?
Turns out that it’s not an easy question to answer, given the general paucity of documentary evidence (we tended not to write things down in general). While archeologists and food historians have their ways, there are some simple ways in which laypeople like us can try and appreciate what vegetables our ancestors might have eaten:
1. Dishes cooked during Srardha rituals,
2. Dishes cooked in old temples and
3. Food eaten by the poor in remote villages – where older eating practices are more likely to have survived.
In this video, I will just focus on 1 – what is cooked by my family once a year in memory of our ancestors. As with anything to do with Indian food, this is one anecdotal example in a giant country with a million different cuisines and eating habits. But it’s one tiny window into the past in terms of what vegetables might have been available before colonization.
Please note: The vegetables likely varied tremendously by region and you can also appropriately add local sources of protein – such as fish, poultry, goats, or cattle as appropriate
When you consider that most vegetables Urban Indians eat regularly potato cauliflower cabbage chilies tomato capsicum French beans carrot were all introduced by the British or Portuguese to India and began to be cultivated widely only in the last 150 years so it’s worth asking the question what vegetables did we eat before
Colonization food history is complicated but some ways to appreciate what people might have eaten a thousand years ago is to look at recipes cooked in rituals for ancestors dishes cooked in very old temples and food eaten by the poor in very remote Villages this is what my
Family Cooks once a year for ancestors recipes have remain unchanged for a long time but remember before trains roads and vehicles all food was necessarily highly local so it would have VAR tremendously every 100 kilm so this is merely one example from one region it features a raita with grated coconut a
Pum with mongal which is local to taminadu Sweet and SAR pacheri with mango lime and ginger pickle raw banana banana and fried bitard banana stem Sesame rounds V from Ural milk Kaa a Chutney made from Curry leaves and a sambar that does not feature Tomatoes or
Chilies so all GDs kokia yams every part of the banana coconut no potato or carrots on a lighter note it’s all the vegetables kids will not eat the spice flavoring for all of this is entirely Ginger turmeric black pepper and long pepper which is quite hot so go speak to
Your grandparents and ask them what vegetables their grandparents eat
47 Comments
Because i come from a Brahmin family i already knew this because most of the time we also eat this kind of food. These foods are not much spicy. They also don't contain onions or garlic. And tastiest of them all is the Payasam. There are many kinds of payasam in kerala and all of them are very tasty😋.
Sarso ka saag may be indian Bur Not Makke ki roti. Maize or Corn is North American crop
In Maharashtra we make Rishi chi baji during ganpati festival, which is basically a stew made of 5 leafy vegetables. There are no chilly or tomatoes. These leafy vegetables grow only during the rainy season.
How do u know, A sambar without CHILLIES 😢😮
South Indians Mostly non veg. Meat and meat rice and kizhangu varieties like sweet potato is appeared everywhere in ancient Tamil poems. Like agananuru purananuru. Before agriculture era only nonveg.
I don't know who peddled the propaganda that tomatoes were introduced in India by the Portuguese in 16th century which is partially true. While touring in a remote tribal village of Odisha, where I can guarantee that no one except people from few villages around it visited, where I bought cherry tomatoes. Furthermore, Chillies are said to be introduced just 450 years ago, which again is a mainstream BS. I haven't found anyone answering how did the Chillies mutate into Pahadi, Bhoot Jholakia, and many other varieties, which are much distinct than Mexican ones. Your research is as good as what's already being pushed as "The Truth"
There is a Temple in Jagannath Puri which follows same ancient Tradition in their cooking for Lord Jagannath .. chillies Tomatoes etc are not used..it follows ancient Recipes…and they literally cook more than 56 Items of meals on daily basis and believee their food is amazing and very delicious 😋😋
Brahmi Capsules work very well for me in high blood pressure, & managing age-related memory loss when used regularly thank you Planet Ayurveda.
Looks controversial…Charaka samhita mentions many vegetables missed in this video..there is a statement Alukam kandanaam asreshtam-means aloo is not so good to eat in charaka samhita and there are many other vegetables and meats mentioned in charaka samhita.Though i partly agree with few vegetables like tomato were introduced during foreign trade and foreign invasion that doesnt mean they were new things for us.Indian cusines were diverse and completely nutritious since long times
It's from British, Portuguese only we got vegetables as they were also were ancient
In Mangalore Udupi region, we consume a lot of indigenous vegetables, which themselves are plenty. They're all still grown and cooked at homes everyday and served at family functions.
I was thinking on the same tppic and you had given me a glimpse ..Thank you very much..Like others looking for a detailed video ..statewise if possible
Where is ancient vegetables of India?!!
In our Village, dosa and idli only during festivals, other times millets, rice
sir ! don't believe what English media tells you.
1) before making any such video you should consult Bhav-Prakash Nighantu or Charak Sanhita etc which tells about all the vegetables we used to eat & their effects on the body & mind.
2) potato – was eaten ( with milk ) for centuries here after roasting ( not boiling ). it was a favourite with sadhus especially.
3) carrots – were eaten here. European carrots are not even Red like what are found here.
Is there any reason refined sugar is called chini. ( From china ).
the westerners have already planned to tell you 1:34 100 years down the line that pumpkin was originally from Europe ( Halloween ) but the fact is every 'Bhandara ' after any religious festivity or marriage had laddoos, poori- Chhole ( black grams ) & pumpkin since ages.
What food lower class people ate in india for last 1500 years is the reasons that india is laging behind the western world.
Less nutritional food bring genetic changes in vast population.
What was the food for rich in india ?
My grandmother gave all the veges listed by you as " introduced aft colonization". … To me regularly… I wonder most elders donot agree with ancient remedies and culture…they always go for paracetamol for their headaches…
I think we the current generation can only bring back the ancient culture…
Unfortunately markets are flooded with these vegetables. Food production should change. How can it be done ? As a consumer we make the choice and this will in turn raise the demand.
Then how were pickles made specially the famous avakaya mango pickle in the south I wonder
Rightly said, yo this day our menu for Sraaddha remains same without the foreign introduced vegetables. Bittergourd, pumpkin, yam, raw banana, banana stem, tender jackfruit, mango, ginger, curry leaves, pepper, jeera, ripe plantains, ripe mangoes, ripe jackfruit as available as season.
So good to see this topic being discussed! Hope we can go back to our indigenous vegetables
But such dishes are mostly eaten in southern india , i wonder what did the north indians eat ? (question is out of curiosity dont want anyone to pull me in north vs south debate )
And most importantly there was no onion or garlic in India, a couple of hundred years ago. These are foreign introductions into Indian cuisine – but now every Indian from Kashmir to Kanyakumari thinks it is an integral part of his food. It is quite amazing that today most Indians think that you will not get that ‘punch’ or pungency in food without these two items. Some have gone to the extent of falsely attributing ‘medicinal’ effect for garlic etc. But the fact is that these items have a negative effect both on body and your consciousness.
On the other hand, many Indians are not aware that by using hing (asafoetida, which has been part of Indian cuisine since ancient times), you can get a better punch and pungent flavour which is free from the negative effects of onion or garlic. So there’s an alternative to onion and garlic in the form of hing which we should educate people about and teach them the art of true Indian cuisine.
Im Muslimah Pakistani born in Britain, and i suscribed.
We're both South Asians, your history is my history. 🤝
It is true. Over the last four decades we have adopted to fast food,easy preparation and safer bet.
Net result Y2K,GEN next and GenZ children's taste buds got so much acclamatised trying to introduce our traditional food has become a big problem.
Vegetables were more seasonal. Ridge gourd, snake gourd, a variety of cucumber that is very large (pottuvellari). Arhar dal is a very ancient Indian plant domesticated in central India around the time of Indus Valley civilisation.
Why don't you acknowledge KT Achaya for the historiographical approach of looking at offerings to ancestors.
Pav Bhaji in its entirety is a dish that happened because of Portuguese essentially.
Lime ginger pickle? Isn't lime introduced by the colonists? Tamarind ginger pickle would be a more authentic version, no?
What about Rice or Wheat?
Best video🤝. This is where culture and traditions meet
How to eat such food in todays lifestyle ?
Probably potatoes and green chilly common in mugal era,
बारहमासा food culture was set during khilji dynasty, that is visible now as festival/ritual food.
So basically all vegetables that I hate 😭
Ya, the entire country is carpeted in filth and candy wrappers. Zero personal pride, and now, imported to Canada. Shameful.😮
An awesome and amazing culture gone to ruin…
You means before Aryan invasion..???
Make a video on social setup clothing and mode of transport 200 years before.
Brilliant topic❤
Interesting video Ashok . Never thought about the fact , food prepared for a Tambrahm devesam is devoid of potato/carrots etc .
Indian ancient foods were very low quality, unhygienic, imbalanced and inferior in quality. Only rich people could eat milk and butter or ghee.
Good work
I love European foods, as every culture has several AWESOME SPECIALIZED DISHES.
BUT FOODS THAT ARE HEALTHY AND INCLUDE AYURVEDA PHILOSOPHY IS FOUND IN ITS ABSOLUTE AUTHENTICITY IN INDIA …. ONLY.
❤ PEACE AND LOVE FROM
CANADA 🍁
Most worthy topic to explore. Thanks for posting. I believe the same can be said of fruits like sapota, custard apple that are native to the Americas. Can't imagine food without tomatoes and potatoes 🙂 . Time to go local..
My grandmother was 108 when she passed away in March 2014. Her diet comprised mostly of foods that had ragi as the main ingredient. My father recalls that she had one discarded alcohol bottle in which she stored cooking oil extracted freshly from a mill nearby and that was all the oil used for the month.