Onam has another interesting thing about it.  That’s the Onasadhya,  which can be called as the part and parcel of Onam. Talk to an old-timer about the Onasadhya and it is a really delectable trip down memory lane.
 

Each one’s reminiscences of the ambience, the festive spirit and the excitement, evoke images of a way of life, lost in today’s frenetic pace.  However, despite the changes that have come about in its content and preparation, the sadya still holds the place of pride in Onam celebrations.
 

There was a time in the past, when the Onasadya was the only sumptuous meal eaten during the whole year.  Irrespective of social status, the feast was prepared religiously.  In fact, there is a Malayalam proverb that reflects the importance of the feat, Kanam Vittum Onam Unnanum, which means that one may even sell off all one’s possessions to celebrate Onam with the traditional feast.

In the past, preparation for the feast began days in advance.  The courses, serving pattern, and combinations are dictated by traditions peculiar to each region.  The various combinations are delicately balanced to aid digestion.  The injicurry and the injithair are well known for their digestive properties.

The items of various colours arranged on the fresh green banana leaf are as beautiful as the athapoovu.  The whole exercise is eye-catching and is designed to create an appetite for the gastronomic delights to follow.  At one time, the sadya included about 64 items, eight varieties, each of eight dishes, such as the pickles, thorans and payasams.  To accommodate this mind-blowing number of dishes, three banana leaves were laid out one below the other!  Today, fitting in so many dishes in this manner may be  more imaginable than the idea than the idea of  either cooking or eating it.

The meal begins with the delicately -flavoured parippu (cooked lentil), ghee (clarified butter), and papadams.  This is followed by the spicy sambar.  The course that follows the sambar varies from region to region.  In some, sweet payasams and prathamans round off the meal, while for others these are followed by kalan, rasam, olan and buttermilk.  As accompaniments there are several thorans, avial, kichadis, pachadis, pickles, papadams, and curries.

In some areas, a pickle is served along with the payasam, to offset its sweetness.  It is sheer delight to lick off a little spicy pickle after every few mouthfuls of payasam.
The break down of the joint family system, and the faster pace of life has wrought several changes in the sadya.  With fewer people to help in the preparation, the number of items has dwindled, but the mandatory ones are still prepared religiously.

Erishery, a curry made with pumpkin and red beans, or raw banana and yam, cooked with slit green chillies, and seasoned with mustard seeds, red chillies and scraped coconut, the main stay of sadyas, is rare now.  So also chena thand thoran, cheeda or kaliodakya, rice flour mixed with spices and rolled into small pellets and deep fried in oil are uncommon items today.

Earlier about eight varieties of pickles, including those made from different types of lemons and chillies were served on the banana leaf.  Today, three types- mango, lime and ginger- are commonly seen.  An assortment of crisp chips made form banana, jackfruit,  various types of yam, and some times even brinjal, were served at the tapering end of the leaf.  Now only banana and jackfruit chips are common .  The sharkaravaratti, banana crisp fried and coated with jaggery, is still an integral part of the feast.  Prathamans and payasams are the headlights of a sadya.  In early days there were at least four varieties of payasam, including the paal payasam.  Today, two is more often the rule.

Despite all changes, the sadya still spells magic during Onam.  Its a fact that whatever delicious food we have, it never gives us the satisfaction that we get from an Onasadya.  That’s the spirit of Onam!