A myth about Gujarati food.

Dear All,

When one say Gujarati food, a feeling of sweet test emerges. People feel that it is common to use sugar or jaggery in all food items by all the Gujarati. But it is a myth. 

If one sees the population breakup of the State one can easily change the opinion. There are 286 castes in Gujarat. It has 15% ST, 7% SC, 10% Minorities, 52% OBC and approximately 2% Rajputs, 8% Patels, 2% Vaishnav-Jains, 3% Brahmins, 1% Soni, Kansara, Bhavsar, etc. 80% population is non vegetarian. They are not regular eater of non-veg food but they are not 100% vegetarian. Their food dominates with strong use of onion, garlic and red chilly. 

They don’t use sugar and jaggery in their daily food. Only one item common with all Gujarati is Tuver Dal. All people use jiggery in Arhar Dal. There is ayurvedic reason. Arhar dal is testy but creates gas trouble after eating. Jaggery or sweet item controls gas. Arhar dal has all six juices and is a balance food. No other dal carries jaggery.

Maharaj is a famous word for cooks in Gujarat. Hotels, dhabas and circuit/guest houses were generally run by Maharajs. The Maharajs and Gujarati Arhar Dal are the pioneer in creating the sweet image of the State. Gujarati dal is sweet; Gujarati tongue is sweet. Sweet is so dominant in the culture that Gujarati identifies salt as ‘Mithu’.

Jainism was born in Bihar but seeded in Gujarat during the rule of Samrat Chadragupta Maurya (320 BC-298 BC). It was spread during the rule of King Kumarpal (1143-1172 AD) a devoted disciple of the great Jain polymath Acharya Hemachandra. Jainism has great influence on Gujarati people to follow vegetarianism and non-violence which is now a Brand of Gujarat. Mahatma Gandhi was a Sansari Sadhu of Jain philosophy.

If you are suffering from gastric problem, do take sweet items!!!

Shubham bhavatu kalyanam. 

Punamchand

13/8/11