Rice - the staple food of Odias

Whenever I am at home in India my mother is never satisfied with the small quantity of rice I eat. She regularly prods me - PETA PUREIKI BHAATA KHAUNU, you are not eating stomach full of rice. She thinks I have developed a bad habit not eating enough rice, a telltale indicator of lack of gastronomic fulfillment.

My lengthy explanation of no need to eat excess rice for satisfaction falls into her deaf year. Can't blame her. Rice has been our staple food for ages and the major source of carbohydrate. Our traditional Odia dishes are centered around rice, washed down blended with DALI (Lentil soup) and TARKARI (curry) which are at best side items. Rice seats at the center like the Sun with other items on memu revolve around it like planets.

So, I negotiate a deal with her to have an extra serving of SAAG (leafy greens) or couple of chunks of potatoes from a curried item in lieu of another mound of rice. But she drops my suggestion like hot potato and places a huge mound of rice on my plate as I frantically waive my hands uttering "No more". 

My vehement protest barely works as that extra chunk of rice always ends up on my plate. In Puri they say, BHATA EMITI BADHA HEI THIBA JE BIRADI DEILE TA GODA BAJIBA - the quantity of rice on your plate should be as challenging for a cat trying to jump over without its legs hitting the top of rice mountain. No wonder you find so many pot bellied folks from in and around Puri.

Rice is cultivated in abundance in Odisha which is enriched with fertile PATU MATI (alluvial soil) replenished by floods every other year. Historically failure of rice crop has led to massive droughts, especially the one called NA ANKA DURBHIKHYA  (Great drought of 19th Century) which claimed millions of lives from starvation as rice was the sole soul food then.

Earlier days people used to consume a lot if rice and its byproducts like CHUDA (Parched rice), MUDHI (Puffed rice), yet burn the carb as they had the habit of doing a lot of physical activities. But the need of eating plentiful of rice has diminished over the years with increased food production and plenty of varieties of veggies and protein available. Coupled with modern sedentary lifestyle where people walk less and bury their heads inside smartphone like ostrich in sand, there is no need for a lot of carbs to consume ending up as ugly, unhealthy flab around your waist.

Potato, the other carb has made inroads into the Odia culinar, but has never made inroads into the Jagannath Temple of Puri, being regarded as a foreign vegetable. The original ALU (potato) of Odisha was DESI ALU (Yam) until it was replaced by BILATI ALU (English Potato), the potato in its present form. So also wheat, another carb in the form of RUTI (Chapattis) - the new kid in the block on the dinner plate in most Odia homes.

It's probably the reason why we see high instances of diabetes and triglycerides in bloodstreams of most Odias. The culprit is our carb inherited genes, accentuated with high intake of rice for generations. We don't need too much carb in a hot, humid climate like ours.  It's high time we change our food habits a bit and let our DHANYA CUTTACKAM (The paddy land of Cuttack) be part of our glorious past.