Amdavadis consume 5 lakh kg of 'Undhiyu' during Uttarayan

If Uttarayan is a time for fun and flying kites, can food be far behind. The kite festival is also a time to relish delicacies in Gujarat and what better than having Undhiyu, a traditional Gujarati dish of mixed vegetables, fenugreek dumplings, and spices, usually prepared in winter.

If figures are anything to go by, Amdavadis consume around 5 lakh kg of Undhiyu on the festive day of Uttarayan, as per reports. 

This 2,000-year-old tradition of cooking Undhiyu in an earthen pot and burying it in the earth to let it cook with the heat from the ground has been passed down through generations.

This recipe, now an Uttarayan special, dates back to the Maurya era and is considered more historic than the kite-flying festival itself.

Today, Undhiyu is made on coal stoves or regular stoves at home, and it is a staple dish in almost every Amdavadi household during lunch on kite flying day.

Around 3,000 makeshift shops in the city sell around 5,00,000 kg of Undhiyu on January 14.

History of Undhiyu

During the Maurya period (322-185 BCE) and from 320-550 CE in India, the festival of Makar Sankranti was celebrated locally, and at that time, all vegetables were steamed in clay pots with spices and consumed. 

However, during the 15th to 17th centuries, with the influx of various communities in Gujarat owing to trade, new elements were introduced to this tradition in different ways, which have evolved into what we now recognise as Undhiyu.

After the 15th century, Surat gained prominence as a major trade centre due to its proximity to the coast. The variety of spices brought in through trade is believed to have contributed to the evolution of Surat’s unique version of Undhiyu.

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