Pickle traditions

Ever since I got this live streaming box through which I can watch Indian channels, I have been hooked onto this channel called Living Foodz. The name of the channel speaks for itself, yes its a cooking and food travel channel. Some of the well known chefs of India have their cooking shows and many of them travel around India to discover the various tastes and cuisines of different regions in the country.

I was always fascinated and interested to travel to the various regions of India and explore their cuisine. So this channel has totally attracted me and I am hooked onto it. There is this one show in which chef Kunal Kapur goes on a pickle journey of India. Pickle is definitely an integral part of our Indian cuisine and different regions have different recipes and a key ingredient which forms the main protagnonist of the pickle. I happened to be watching this one episode when chef Kunal Kapur went to Tamil Nadu and he was exploring the pickles in a TamBram family. This immediately caught my attention because I see an aged Iyengar mami all set to describe the pickle tradition that ran in her family. I was totally tuned to it as I am an Iyengar by birth and I am always intrigued by the culture and tradition. So there were three generations featured in this family, the mother in law who spoke seasoned and cultured Hindi with few lines of polished English. She was traditionally dressed in her Madisar and a long namaam (tilak) adorning her forehead. She was directing her daughter in law who was an elderly lady herself and there was an occasional appearance of her grand children and her daughter. They were sitting in the courtyard of their traditional house and they were going to explain how to make Sundakkai pickle. Sundakkai is a tiny green colored berry which is rather sour in taste and its best eaten as a pickle with curd rice. As they guided chef Kunal in making the pickle, they spoke about the traditional pickling rituals. Apparently the household had a separate room for storing the pickle jars. The lady of the family used to enter the room only in certain days in a week and they were not allowed to enter in certain times of the month. Mostly the eldest lady in the household would enter the pickle room, monitor the pickle and stir them in the jar while the rest of the family stood outside the room, enjoying the fragrances of the various pickles. The interesting piece of information was that during the eclipse, the pickle room would be locked from outside using Durbha grass so that the harmful rays of the eclipse would not spoil the pickles that are stored in the room. I don't know if many would call this being superstitious or there was some truth behind it. But I was extremely fascinated. Chef Kunal mentioned a very thought provoking statement to the grand daughters before he could sign off from that place. Many of the traditional activities that were carried out in the kitchen by the lady of the household bring the whole family together and they are passed down as memories for the next generation. Though the mother of the little girls grew up in that household watching her mother and grand mother making these pickles, she does not venture into them but then they will live with her as memories. Also important thing to note is that all these traditional recipes are lost with time and technology.

The next household which chef Kunal visited was also an Iyengar household where the husband also participated actively in the preparation of pickles. Apparently pickles are considered so holy that they are worshipped every day. The lamp and incense stick is even shown to the pickles. They shared the recipe of Mahali pickle which is sweet smelling root. They spoke so fondly of how their mother used to make this pickle and serve it with huge bowls of curd rice. It just reminds me of my childhood and all the loving memories such a simple dish can bring out. This particular episode also showcased how the whole family can spend time together on such a simple activity and yet have a memorable time doing it.

I have really missed such a wonderful part of my childhood which is the time with grand parents. I have never seen my grand parents as they passed away way before I was born. We learn so much from them and I was put into deep thoughts after watching this episode. A lot of our culture and traditions are being lost in this race behind westernization and modernization.

Chef Kunal definitely added a nostalgic touch to the episode by kissing the hand of the lady who showed him how to make the Mahali pickle. I am sure he understands and values the importance of all the tradition that runs behind different regions.

I wish I can visit some traditional household
some day and learn the traditional recipes and pass it down to the next generation.