884. Brinjal with a difference......!

There is not even a single day without “Gulla” not being an ingredient in the naivedya offered to Kadagolu Krishna in Udupi. Gulla which is a special variety of brinjal has earned the village Mattu, where it is grown, the Geographical Indicator (GI) patent. Gulla is a secondary crop and its cultivation starts after the paddy is harvested. Gulla seeds are sown during November and it is harvested till May. Every year about 1000 MT of Gulla is cultivated. This Brinjal is even exported to many countries. 

There is an interesting story behind the origin of this vegetable. Vadhiraja Theertha, the preceptor of the Sode Matha was a devotee of  Hayavadhana. He used to offer Hayagreeva, a sweet dish as naivedya and the Lord Hayavadhana used to come in the form of a horse to consume the naivedya. The horse kept its hoofs on his shoulders while eating the Hayagreeva. A few who saw this became envious and one day they added poison to the Hayagreeva. As usual the horse ate it and the idol of Krishna at Udupi turned blue. Those who had mixed the poison were shocked to see the idol turn blue and immediately they sought the pardon of Vadhirajaru. The seer out of compassion gave them some seeds and asked them to plant them in the fields. He asked them to bring that which grows from it. He assured that the blue tinge in the idol of Krishna would vanish as soon as the offering was placed before Him. It happened as he forecast and since then Gulla is being used in the Sri Krishna Matha in Udupi every day.

This brinjal has been considered “sacred” and its taste is very special. Since 15th century for the past 400 years this vegetable is relished by consumers of brinjal in parts of Karnataka. It has been a good example for the traditional holistic approach of food quality compared to the modern reductionist approach. In the holistic approach it can be considered that the overall food quality is composed of three components of measurable quality like presence or absence of nutrients, toxins, microbes etc, consumer quality in terms of colour, flavour, texture as well as emotional, social and ethical issues and finally environmental quality whether its production contributes to the maintenance of a sustainable and bio-diverse system of agriculture. In the reductionist approach, the concept of food quality is cleaved it only looks at quantity and is not concerned of environmental issues from growing them. 

Mattu Gulla answers all the traditional holistic perspective.......Try it once at your kitchen...it is available in all Mangalore Stores..!