Yes, it does. And partly we are used to that food from our region for a long time. Certain foods grow in abundant quantities in a particular region and they automatically become our diet. As an example, if we take Tamil Nadu(my home state), rice is always a staple here. It will make its way into every meal in some way or other. We can say the same thing about coconut in Tamil Nadu meals too.
Rice grows in plenty so it automatically makes its way into our meals everyday. Our meals are typically like this;
Rice with sambhar, rasam, poriyal, curd and ‘appalam’ if possible for lunch.
Every lunch meal will have rice with different kinds of side dish(like kulambhu, variety rice, paruppu, mor kulambhu and non-veg kulambhus too)
Breakfast items include idli, dosai predominantly. Both idli and dosai have rice in them. Similarly, there are Kerala specialities like there is appam, idiyappam which also have rice in them and which also make their way into our diet.
In Karnataka, millet varieties seem to form a good portion of the meal. Ragi, Bajra, Foxtail, Little millet and more. Karnataka is rightly known as the ‘Millet Capital of India”. The ‘Ragi Mudde’ that I had blogged about last year is a popular dish in interior Karnataka. Millets grow in plenty here and that automatically finds its way into our table.
Similarly, I am sure other states of India will also incorporate foods that are abundantly grown in their region into their diet. North Indian states might have more of wheat in their diet since it is more readily available. Cities along the coast will have more of seafood in their diet since it is more readily available.
Isn’t it fascinating to know how our food habits are trained by the place we live and what grows there? But in these migrant times, we also adopt food habits from the place we travel to but our comfort food will always be the one we grew up on.
This post is for BlogchatterA2Z!
Rice is staple in Andhra and Telangana too, though the Rayalseema belt in Andhra has a higher millet consumption as well (especially the regions on Karnataka’s border).
It is fascinating how diverse our cuisine is!
Nice to know… Definitely the border close to Karnataka will have more of millets… Yes… Our cuisine is fascinating!
I was born and brought up in Kerala but I prefer North Indian food. Your post reminds me of other foods as well.
Very interesting…I love my idlis and dosas any day! 🙂
Jayanthi ji, even within Tamil Nadu, there are so many variations. Having lived in three places there, I’ve seen that while the major dishes are the same, each has its own unique twist. Mera Bharat Mahan! But I am fan of your state’s MTR’s dosai!! wow!!!
Exactly, Pandian…our food is amazing as always… and I still prefer the Tamil Nadu dosai over any other variant!
Have realised the extent of South Indian dishes after shifting to Hyderabad, other i only knew of Idli, Dosa (minus the i) as the say in North, and Wada. To know the true taste of any dish , i believe you need to visit the place. I have been fortunate in that. Lovely post
Thanks Deepika…hope we can visit Himachal some day and enjoy the delicacies there! 😉
Hey Jayanthi! I absolutely loved reading your post—what a delicious way to celebrate India’s diversity! As a Telugu girl who was born and raised in Delhi and now lives in Hyderabad, I’ve had the best of both food worlds. I grew up eating rajma-chawal and butter naan like a true Dilliwaali, but now I find myself drooling over Hyderabadi biryani and spicy Andhra curries. There’s definitely something magical about how each state in India bonds with its own comfort food. I used to think curd rice was too plain growing up, but now? Total soul food after a long day! Your point about food being tied to identity really hit home—I feel like my plate tells the story of where I come from. Thanks for writing this—it made me smile, hungry, and kinda proud all at once!
Thanks Romila..yes, there is nothing quite like a curd rice… 😉
What a delicious post! It took me back to my trip to Kerala five years ago during Vishu, when I was served authentic local food. I may not remember the names of all the dishes, but the taste still lingers on my tongue. Being a bengali girl, I enjoy Punjabi food and bengali cuisine equally. True where we are born and where we travel to influence our choice of food!
Yes!