Ugadi/Yugadi is the traditional beginning of the new year (year 5119!) of a few ethnicities in India: Kannadigas (in and around Bangalore) Telugus (many of of whom are in or around Hyderabad). A related new year for Marathi People (in and around Mumbai) is Gudhi Padwa.
There are a few other cultures that follow a Lunar calendar, and the Persian New Year falls in a couple days also (Nowruz Mubarak!).That’s a bit of trivia for folks that have friends or colleagues in India.
How we celebrate:
Generally speaking (speaking as someone with a Telugu family) it’s a time to hang out, and eat an interesting assortment of foods. The whole spread:
A couple notable nomnoms:
- Ugadi Pachadi: a concoction that mixes four different ingredients: brown sugar, raw mango, salt, and neem leaves for sweet, sour, salty, and bitter flavors, respectively. My understanding is that this is a reflection of the tumultuous year ahead. I like this part of the tradition because it informs you the entire 364 days following will not all be sunshine and grinning unicorns. Maybe some of the unicorns have rabies.
- Obbatu: A sweet made almost like a yellow tortilla/roti, except with seasoned brown sugar in the middle. It’s often eaten with ghee (clarified butter), milk, and a banana.
Needless to say Indian festivals are not low-carb affairs.
Happy Ugadi, and may you handle the inevitable bitterness of the year 5119 ahead!
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Dude you can't imagine how much I miss indian cousine :) I've spent several months in India, Nepal and Pakistan and the food there is just the best food in the world
I mean, there are restaurants here in Europe but food is expensive and still doesn't really taste like it did in India.
Here me and my friends eating breakfast in Jaisalmer, Aloo Paratha FTW! Your low-carb remark made me laugh haha, soo true :D
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I feel you, @matkodurko! I was just in Berlin a couple weeks ago, and while the choice of cuisine was amazing, the Indian food was very different from what I'm used to anywhere in India. Not worse, necessarilly, just suited for Western tastes.
Next time you get a chance, try to visit some Kushti (mud wrestling) gyms! There are a few in every city!
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nomnom indeed!
The Indian cuisine has to be one of the best ones around :)
Thanks for sharing this information, I'll be thinking of wishing people a happy Ugadi from now on!
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