SC - Indian cookbook

[David Dendy]

I don't have the "Historical Dictionary of Indian Food" yet. I have ordered
it from India, and it should arrive in a couple of weeks. When it does, I'll
see what it has to say. However, I do have another book by the same author,
K.T. Achaya, entitled "Indian Food: A Historical Companion", and here is
what I can glean about chapatis from it. (It is somewhat confusing to use,
as there are, not surprisingly, a great many unfamiliar terms for Indian
foods, and the arrangement wanders from thematic to chronological -- it is a
fascinating book, though.)

The earliest specifically dated reference to chapatis that Achaya gives is
from about 1635 ("unleavened and paper-thin, baked on a skillet and then on
live charcoal, eaten by the poor" [p. 173]). However, his general references
to chapatis suggest a long use [see p. 138]; speaking of the Harappan
civilization of the third and second milleniums B.C., he writes "Flat metal
and clay plates resembling modern thavas have been found in plenty in
Harappan sites, suggesting that the baked chapati may have been known."

Whether the actual word was used far back is harder to tell: part of the
confusion is that it seems "chapati" is just a specific sort of more general
type of bread, "roti" (Achaya's glossary defines "chapati" as "flat
griddle-roasted wheat circlet", while "roti" is "flat griddle-roasted
circlets of wheat or other cereals.")

I'm not sure how much this helps to answer your question, but it's the best
I have right now. I hope the other book, when it arrives, may allow us to
pin the matter down better.

Francesco Sirene
David Dendy / ddendy at silk.net
partner in Francesco Sirene, Spicer / sirene at silk.net
Visit our Website at http://www.silk.net/sirene/

 ->--- Devra at aol.com wrote:
>> In a message dated 4/18/00 3:23:10 AM Eastern
>> Daylight Time,
>> owner-sca-cooks at ansteorra.org writes:
>>
>> > al.  It
>> >  is exceptionally good when used to make...you
>> guessed it...Chapati.  Now,
>> >  does anyone have an Indian reference for Chapati
>> in period?
>> There is an excellent book entitled "Historical
>> Dictionary of Indian Food",
>> available from Oxford University Press, costing
>> about $35.  It probably does
>> touch on the antiquity of the various breads so
>> popular and important in
>> Indian cookery.