Draupadi at the table

The Brahmanical meal of epic India is not divided into starter-main-dessert but seeks balance of the six tastes (shad-rasa: sweet madhura, sour amla, salty lavana, pungent katu, bitter tikta, astringent kashaya) served together on a banana leaf or thali. One begins with sweet, then rice surrounded by dals, vegetables (shaka), and dairy; sour-sweet drinks accompany; and ritually pure (sattvic), vegetarian food is offered to gods and guests before being shared.

Clarified butter is the pivotal ingredient of this cuisine: it serves as offering in the sacrificial fire (homa), cooking medium, unction, and sign of abundance. Pouring smoking ghee over rice is the quintessential gesture of generosity at a queen's table — and the akshaya patra vessel of exile never ran out of this ghee-rice.