Concept of Paththu in the kitchen

[sumaviab]

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Hi,
Could someone explain the concept of Paththu relating to kitchen preparations? Some preparations like Rava uppuma was tagged non-paththu while Saadam, sambar etc were considered Paththu.
What is the theory behind this and how can we extrapolate this to western foods like Pasta?
Thanks in advance.

 

[kunjuppu]

thread reopened by request... thx..

 

[sapthajihva]

thread reopened by request... thx..

FYI, there is an existing thread dealing on this topic. ;-)

 

[kunjuppu]

saptha,

we bend backwards to please our members

there was a request to reopen up this particular thread, though i do not see any posting by the member who asked me to do the same.

 

[drsundaram]

Sir, I don't know what went on with the topic of pathu raised by Suma and moderated by you. Kindly arrange to delibrate on this and we all can share what we know. Where do I see participation of this topic. Thanks so much.


yes, I am longing to know the significance of Pathu and pathu items. Such items if touched, one is asked to rinse the touched hand/. On those olden days I was not knowing to clarify with our mother, grand mother etc. May be out of implicit obedience. As years roll on I started to think and that is why now "Pathu". Do we to be really concerned about "Pathu". Why? Even In temple madapallis the hand is not washed after touching "pathu" items. But I have seen "pathus" was so glorified by my mother and my elder sister and adhered to, being followed with, not such seriounss, with current generation females at my homes. Where from this concept arisen, what if we follow this, what if we don''t follow, what are the limitations under the concept.
I request our esteemed members to share authentically.
Thanks
drsundaram

 

[pannvalan]

I request our members to go through the discussions on the same topic, a few months ago. (Paththu and Echchil)

 

[sapthajihva]

saptha,

we bend backwards to please our members

Nice one... :tea:

sumaviab, pls go through this...

http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/rituals-ceremonies-pujas/1682-patthu.html

 

[sumaviab]

Dear Sri Kunjuppu, Sri Sapthajihva and Sri Pannvalan,
Thanks you all for throwing more light on the subject. Thanks to Sri Kunjuppu also for his personal message.
My original question was not about whether to follow or not follow these rules, it is about the definition of Paththu. Anyways, thanks for your time.
Regards

 

[dhumakethu]

Definition of Pathu

Dear Sumaviab,

I would like to share the little I know regarding the classification of Pathu in the kitchen.

If we look at it, our food intake has enormous effect on our thought process. Naturally, we would like to keep our thought process at the peak as far as possible. The practise of Pathu has been introduced ages before only to bifurcate those food items which can be taken and those which should be thrown away. Here only the concept of Pathu comes in. The vessel we use, the combination of cereals, pulses, vegetables, etc we use to prepare the dish and the retention period, say a few hours or a day, has a lot of implications to contaminate without loss of taste. Hence, those items which are prepared, for example, sweets, will last longer than those prepared with salt. Here the essence is the time factor of how many hours the item has been kept without consumption. With this parameter, whether we are in the midst of a truly brahmin agraharam or in the most modern part of the globe we can identify items which are Pathu and which are not. Believe me, this has helped me wherever I was preparing my own food when staying in any country for months together.

It is important that we should not bring in the petty economy of storing something to save a few pennies but attract indirect pulling physical and mental disturbances. In case we come to know of any new guideline regarding Pathu we can go deep within ourselves and try to understand whether it holds any relevance. If yes we can accept it or set aside as one more belief. We can be confident this way as we should be religious and not superstitious.

I hope my little thoughts can open many windows in your mind as we all are seekers after perfection which is the ever eluding goal post.

 

[DURGADASAN]

The definition of pathu is not the number 10. It is actually "PATRU". I mean in tamil word patru means go and get attached. The quality of pathu items is when it is placed near non-pathu items, that will also consider as pathu. That is how we treat. Hope suma ji has satisfied now with the definition.

Pranams.

 

[drsundaram]

Dear Sumaviab,

I would like to share the little I know regarding the classification of Pathu in the kitchen.

If we look at it, our food intake has enormous effect on our thought process. Naturally, we would like to keep our thought process at the peak as far as possible. The practise of Pathu has been introduced ages before only to bifurcate those food items which can be taken and those which should be thrown away. Here only the concept of Pathu comes in. The vessel we use, the combination of cereals, pulses, vegetables, etc we use to prepare the dish and the retention period, say a few hours or a day, has a lot of implications to contaminate without loss of taste. Hence, those items which are prepared, for example, sweets, will last longer than those prepared with salt. Here the essence is the time factor of how many hours the item has been kept without consumption. With this parameter, whether we are in the midst of a truly brahmin agraharam or in the most modern part of the globe we can identify items which are Pathu and which are not. Believe me, this has helped me wherever I was preparing my own food when staying in any country for months together.

It is important that we should not bring in the petty economy of storing something to save a few pennies but attract indirect pulling physical and mental disturbances. In case we come to know of any new guideline regarding Pathu we can go deep within ourselves and try to understand whether it holds any relevance. If yes we can accept it or set aside as one more belief. We can be confident this way as we should be religious and not superstitious.

I hope my little thoughts can open many windows in your mind as we all are seekers after perfection which is the ever eluding goal post.

I think I tally with the views of dhumakethuji in respect of what is pathu and what are not pathu, in general. I need more clarity in the sense if for preserving the taste and quality of a dish the pathu comes in , then what will possibly happen to the dish inside by just touching the exterior of the container. We always generally touch the edges of container/ by its outer/ top sides and not the dish itself directly that too not at all with bare fingers and hands to contaminate the contents. What could possibly go wrong/harm to the inside contents and how it will interfere with qualityof the core dish if exterior is only touched.The pathu strikes at that i. e on mere touching of certain vessels [ with dishe inside] we are told to rinse the fingers with water and then touch the non pathu items. Why? If Pathu is food specifc that is Ok like Sakkarai pongal is pathu based whereas vadai is not. Avul kesari is non pathu and same avul in upma form is pathu. Putu from Rice is non pathu but rice pongal is pathu.Then are they because of cooking and vegavacha items classified as pathu and other wise rest are not!!
I don't know if I am delivering my views correctly. Otherwise I may be please ignored.THANKS

 

[kunjuppu]

as a person, more immersed, with spending my time, dealing with the day's problem, the concept of pathu is now alien to me, in my daily practice.

in 1960s, when my aunt had moved to a new neighbourhood in madras, her immediate neighbour, also an iyer, had a housewarming party.

later in the night, the neighbour knocked my aunt't door, carrying a whole set of pots filled with thayir saadam, koottan and also sorts of vegetables and pacchadis.

she sought and received permission to store them in my aunt's vacant brand new still empty fridge (only thayir, water, pickles there).

it was the wag topic of our family's female tongues for the next 10 or so years, about this neighbours blatant denial of pathu. also my aunt was taken to task by the elder biddies of the family.

fast forward to today: in all my relatives, not one அரிசி பற்று
is wasted. nor do the kootans. nor pachadis. folks now talk about how not to waste food. also we have all discovered the augmented taste of 'left overs'.

times they are changing forever.

also, we don't see too many ராப்பிச்சை anymore, thus depriving us of a conscience satisfying avenue to get rid of excess food.

hmmmm !!!!!!!!!!1

 

[DURGADASAN]

Dear kunjuppu sir,

I think the concept of raapichai has been totally vanished. It is a beautiful concept, my mom daily will take some food (even if there is no leftover) for him. You may hear somewhere in your childhood (my mom usually says), when you ask some eatables in late night, they will respond to us "Pichakaranukku panni tharen". For many years, I thought pichaikaran is tomorrow. But, it simply says how our life is. There is no surity for our next day. At the same time, giving something to others (I dont know whether that give punyam or not), gives pleasure to our mind and heart. They clubbed both these and served rapichais with a kinda of devotedness...

At the sametime, she always follows pathu in my house. Now, my brother-in-law is also doing the same. I am not able to come to a conclusion whether it is necessary or not...

Pranams

 

[dhumakethu]

Vessels and Pathu

Dear Sri.Sundaram Ji,

Hygiene is perhaps the other name for Pathu. Hence vessels play an important role in preparation like using aluminum vessels help for a longer non-contaminated food items while those prepared with bronze becomes stale quite easily. Hence the practise of preparing items in bronze vessels and shifting it to aluminum vessels without touching the food contents is practised by many.

Salt added preparations attract greater chances of internal fungus/germs collection. They become stale much early. As an interesting point the purest form for cooking vessels are kal chetty/chetty panai (pottery). As a paradox a dish considered as Pathu item in one place may be cosidered as non Pathu in some other region. Obviously generation to generation people would have thought differently and established this bifurcation of Pathu and non-Pathu, maybe due to the climatic conditions of the region. That is why I decided upon trying to deeply understand the implication and follow Pathu/Non-Pathu strictly from hygienic point of view. Each one or each household is on its own in this.

 

[kunjuppu]

dhuma,

good points. ie to analyze not only the origins of pathu, but also verify its relevance to current day.

many of us, consider pathu, as part of our tradition. we practise it by default.

atleast i think, this is what we do, with many of our day to day habits, which are proscribed or severely curtailed.

i think, only when it becomes a nuisance or impractical, we tend to discard our traditions.

one example is pathu, in many houses. the concept of pathu goes against the principles of saving cooked food in the fridge.

so too is the concept of theetu, which today, is, i think, more a pollution associated with the mind, rather than the body.

not very many of us, i think, go to the extent of analysis of such stuff like pathu, like the way you do, and modify our practice based on our findings.

what baffles me still, is the attributes of energy to many of our actions ie positive or negative energy. if so be the case,hopefully, my positives and negatives do balance out.

thank you.

 

[vijisesh]

Appreciate that the discussion about pathu in this thread has not been
" pathoda senthu pathinonnu !"

Good views - especially about rappichai's -- Why you don't find them , should indeed be analysed , in depth and the reasons could be because :

1) There is no water to wash before and after food, in chennai !

2) The rappichai feel that the food from "kai endhi bhavans" are more tastier than that prepared with the greatest of efforts , by agathu mami's !

3) Due to the increase in the TV serials aimed to bring out tears in our thaikulams , the rapichhai karan does not get the due respect for his designation !

4) There may be no guarantee that the rappichai will get something everyday from a certain house , as they cook and store for a week in the fridge and don't throw away even the thogayal and vatta kuzhambu , until they double confirm with 2-3 people , that the food has become rotten and is unhygienic to be consumed !

What else ! - Please do not treat this issue as trivial - I recommend thorough analysis on this subject , with the help of experienced people ( direct or indirect ) to express their views !

P.S : Too much fun at the cost of Rapichhais and their associations could be disastrous as they could deny entry to some of the aspirants in their society .( The one's who may be forced to join them due to job-cuts as a result of Recession )