Thali (meaning "plate"), Bhojanam (meaning "full meal") or Chakluk is a round platter used to serve food in

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. Thali is also used to refer to an Indian-style meal made up of a selection of various dishes which are served on a platter.

Thali Thali (meaning "plate"), Bhojanam (meaning "full meal") or Chakluk is a round platter used to serve food in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. Thali is also used to refer to an Indian-style meal made up of a selection of various di ...

is also used in south Asia for ceremonial purposes.

History

Early History

According to archeologist

Bindeshwari Prasad Sinha Bindeshwari Prasad Sinha (1919-2002) was an Indian archaeologist and historian specialising in ancient Indian history. Sinha was a professor and head of the Department of History and Archaeology at Patna University. He was the founder of Bihar sta ...

, dish-on-stand and simple dishes belonging to the

Indus Valley Civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900&n ...

maybe regraded as the prototype of Indian dishes as thalis but these do not have accompanying bowls commonly seen with thalis. According to Sinha the distinctive thali accompanying bowls instead appears in the

Painted Grey Ware culture The Painted Grey Ware culture (PGW) is an Iron Age Indian culture of the western Gangetic plain and the Ghaggar-Hakra valley in the Indian subcontinent, conventionally dated 1200 to 600–500 BCE, or from 1300 to 500–300 BCE It is a successo ...

. Archeologist

B.B. Lal Braj Basi Lal (2 May 1921 – 10 September 2022) was an Indian writer and archaeologist. He was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from 1968 to 1972 and has served as Director of the Indian Institute of Advance ...

similarly suggests food was eaten from the Painted Grey Ware dishes and bowls. B.B Lal notes that "typical dinner set in the Painted Grey Ware consists of the thali (dish), katora (bowl) and lota (drinking vessel)," he suggests it highlights the tradition followed today. Earliest textual sources on thali comes from Ayurveda Samhitas, Sangam and medieval period cookbooks. A chapter in ancient

Sushruta Samhita The ''Sushruta Samhita'' (सुश्रुतसंहिता, IAST: ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'', literally "Suśruta's Compendium") is an ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and surgery, and one of the most important such treatises on this subj ...

text is dedicated to dining etiquette, method of serving food and proper placement of each dish before the diner, it is earliest known textual evidence on thali presentation. Detail from Kota painting, ca

This dining and serving etiquette from

is also adopted in medieval Indian cookbooks with some variations. The Manasollasa texts chapter ''Annabhoga'' describes dining etiquette, method of serving food and the way in which district officers and other nobles should be treated at dinner in the court. '0' A thali, meal served in India

Foreign accounts

Greek ambassador Megasthenes in his work '' Indica'' notes the dining manners of

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...

court: Portuguese ambassador Domingo Paes who visited the court of Vijayanagar Empire notes: Meera Mukherjee suggests tripod or three-footed stool may have been similar to ''"Mukkali"'' stool, a type of vernacular furniture more commonly found in southern parts of India. While Chowki or Bajot, a four-legged stool are more commonly used with thali today.

Kansa metal

Thalis are traditionally made with Kansa metal, it is mixture of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

and

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

. Although it is similar to bronze, Kansa has higher

content than bronze. The fifth chapter of

Rasaratna Samuchaya ''Rasaratna Samuccaya'' ( Devanagari: रसरत्न समुच्चय) is an Indian Sanskrit treatise on alchemy. The text is dated between 13th to 16th century CE. The text contains detailed descriptions of various complex metallurgica ...

text is dedicated to Kansa with significant information about Kansa kitchenware, diningware and it's benefits.

Thali/Bhojanam meal

''Thali'' refers to the metal plate that a thali meal may be served on, while ''Bhojanam'' refers to full meals. Thali is popular method of serving meals in South Asia. The idea behind a thali is to offer all the 6 different flavours of sweet, salt, bitter, sour, astringent and spicy on one single plate (technically the last two are actually forms of

chemesthesis Chemesthesis is the chemical sensitivity of the skin and mucous membranes. Chemesthetic sensations arise when chemical compounds activate receptors associated with other senses that mediate pain, touch, and thermal perception. These chemical-induc ...

rather than true flavours). According to Indian food custom, a proper meal should be a perfect balance of all these six flavours. Restaurants typically offer a choice of vegetarian or meat-based thalis. Vegetarian bhojanams are very typical and commonplace in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

canteens

Dishes served in a thali vary from region to region in the Indian subcontinent and are usually served in small bowls, called ''katori'' in India. These katoris are placed along the edge of the round tray, the actual thali; sometimes a steel tray with multiple compartments is used. Typical dishes include rice,

dal In Indian cuisine, ''dal'' (also spelled ''daal'' or ''dhal''; pronunciation: , Hindi: दाल, Urdu: ) are dried, split pulses (e.g., lentils, peas, and beans) that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of p ...

, vegetables,

roti Roti (also known as chapati) is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is popular in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Trinid ...

papad A papad is an Indian deep fried dough of black gram bean flour, either fried or cooked with dry heat (flipped over an open flame) until crunchy. Other flours made from lentils, chickpeas, rice, tapioca, millet or potato are also used. ''Papad' ...

, dahi (yogurt), small amounts of

chutney A chutney is a spread in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion or mint dipping sauce. ...

or pickle, and a sweet dish to top it off. Rice or roti is the usual main dish that occupies the central portion of the thali, while side dishes like vegetable curries and other aforementioned delicacies are lined circularly along the round thali. Depending on the restaurant or the region, the thali consists of delicacies native to that region. In general, a thali begins with different types of breads such as

puri Puri () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is als ...

s or chapatis (

s) and different vegetarian specialities ( curries). However, in South India and Southeast Asia, rice is the only staple served with bhojanams. Thalis or Bhojanams are sometimes referred to by the regional characteristic of the dishes they contain. For example, one may encounter Andhra bhojanam, Nepalese thali,

Rajasthani Rajasthani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India * Rajasthani languages, a group of languages spoken there * Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the region * Rajasthani architecture * Rajasthani art ...

thali,

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

thali,

Maharashtrian Maharashtrian is an adjective referring to something related to: * Maharashtra, a state of India * Marathi people * Marathi language See also * Maharashtrian Brahmin * Maharashtri, the medieval language * Marathi (disambiguation) Marathi may ...

thali, Manipuri chakluk,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

unavu and

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

unavu. In many parts of

and the

, the bread and the rice portions are not served together in the thali. Typically, the bread is offered first with rice being served afterwards, often in a separate bowl or dish.

Affordability

The Economic Survey of India 2020 has a section called ''Thalinomics'', the survey found that the vegetarian thalis became 29% more affordable compared to 2006-07, while non-veg thalis became 18% more affordable.

History

Early History

Foreign accounts

Kansa metal

Thali/Bhojanam meal

Affordability

See also

References

Further reading