Tam Bram - what's up with that?

A typical Tam Bram neighborhood in South India

What is Tam Bram? What does that have to do with me or for that matter food? I answer by saying this.."Everything". Let's start with the boring straight up definition of Tam Brams..Tam Bram stands for the Tamil speaking Brahmins in Southern India. I belong to one such traditional household and my foundation as a human being was shaped in my upbringing as a Tam Bram. For you skeptics who think this is some kind of racist blog, I say "Nooooo, not at all". Just proud of my heritage, that's all and I encourage you to be proud of yours! That's where my roots are, that sub consciously flows into my cooking style. What I like to do is create these original dishes as it was intended to be and then bring those spices to locally grown produce, grains from around the world available in the United States. I am a big believer in creativity and improvisation that builds on a good foundation. 

Some facts about Tam Brams that you probably did or didn't know.  

• They were historically expected to lead a spiritual life and devote their lives either to the study and propagation of Vedas and Hindu scriptures or function as temple or household priests.However, the evidence shows that they were engaged in many activities such as warfare, study of science, medicine, politics, astronomy, astrology, music and many more intellectual fields as early as 13AD. Focus for Tam Brams has always been on the intellectual capital more than the physical strength and valor. I say this knowing this all sounds like generalization and of course it is. I am talking about 70% scenario here.

• Tam Brams despite all the stereotype victimization tend to be a lot more liberal in their acceptance of new ideas and harbor modern, secular views.  

• Most Tam Brams are die hard fans of Filter Coffee. I believe this is down to the genetic make up and it is nothing short of a divine revelation when you take that first sip. I am drooling as I am typing this up..I am even starting to wonder if this is why there are so many Tam Bram Java programmers... 

• Most Tam Brams are 100% vegetarians not vegans. They do consume milk and milk products and use it in their cooking and for their worship.  

• Tam Brams typically end their meals with yogurt rice. This is simply white cooked rice mixed with salt and plain yogurt that is usually homemade. From this base, you can get creative with the spices and toppings and condiments to accompany. A typical Tam Bram will feel amiss without this happy ending to their meals. You might even hear some folks bullying Tam Brams this way : "Seriyaana Thayir Saadam"...jokes apart, this has amazing health benefits and it only makes perfect sense to include your probiotics daily. 

•  Tam Brams are renowned for making traditional comfort foods such as rasam, sambhar, vathal kozhambu, more kozhambu, paruppu usili and the 100s of different varieties in the same. For those of you tongue twisting your way through that last sentence, I have detailed recipes heading your way soon. 

•  Tam Bram cooking has roots in Ayurvedic cooking and when followed to the tee it has many health benefits.

• The traditional Tam Bram kitchen shuns onion and garlic. There are specific days when consumption of onions and garlic is strictly prohibited. I have seen my grandmother almost show the same reaction to garlic as meat! I have never seen a head of garlic in her kitchen. It is crazy but true. Bing a modern cook and after learning about the health benefits, onion and garlic are staples in my kitchen. The roots run deep however...so I don't use onion or garlic when cooking for religious occasions. My son is on a strict garlic diet and will take it on everything except dessert :) Wonder how my grandmother would react to his plate...I wish she was alive for me to test that out.

 Here is a very funny, exaggerated cartoon creation on Tam Brams..original.. http://tambrahmrage.tumblr.com