On Sun, Jun 7, 2009 at 4:14 AM, Radhika, Y. <radhik...@gmail.com> wrote:
> My mother says that rice is served first on the plate only to widows > presumably symbolizing the bareness of their lives in a traditional > society. > sounds barbaric to me so i now serve it first in complete defiance;-) Ha....my Iyengar friend (who's 80+, no one knows her actual age) cackles that I don't have any culture if I serve other dishes first, she says I should show that Annapoorni (the goddess of Anna, which is specifically rice and generally food) is respected by serving rice first. My Iyer aunt cackles if I serve rice first and says "you young people (I am 54) don't know any culture". I don't know whom to defy...should I be a def-iyer or a def-iyengar? Everyone seems to have their own "ethnic story" to support their own customs. Deepa.
