Thursday, March 1, 2007

About Neivedyam


NEIVEDYAM means “the sacred Food offered to God”.
It is the food offered to God to express love and gratitude. Neivedyam can be in the form of fruits, sweets, savory, rice, dals, milk, coconuts, beetle leaves and many more. Depends on how one wants to express his love for God. During every Indian festival, Neivedyam is offered at temples and every household in INDIA. It is an important ritual in Hinduism.
It is believed that every God in Hinduism has his own choice of food. For example, Lord Krishna loves to have butter, so on his birthday called the Janmashtami, butter is offered as neivedyam. Every God is offered with their own favorite food as Neivedyam.
Once the offering is done by chanting mantras (sacred prayers), it is believed that God accepts our offering and then we consume the neivedyam in the form of prasadam(Prashad)from the God himself.

Food is not only a mode of expressing our love towards God, it's also used to express love among family, friends and relatives during gatherings, weddings, festivals and occasions. In Sanskrit there is a famous saying called “Athithi Devo Bhava”. This means “guest is like God”. When someone comes home as a guest we should treat them equal to God. So we express our love for them by offering them food. Food is a very important expression of love and gratitude to say "you care".

I wanted a traditional and ethnic name for my blog, which will represent not only food, but also the Indian culture and values in just a word and so was the name "NEIVEDYAM" born. Couldn’t find anything better.

I have always had passion for food and love to entertain my family and friends with different recipes. I try out recipes form all over India and try to keep it simple and easy. I don’t always go for lengthy, time-consuming recipes but when it comes to entertaining guests, I don’t mind taking challenges.
In my blog you will find lot of Indian recipes and Fusion recipes from all over the world. I will be highlighting on the festival foods of India.
So lets get cooking!! .

12 comments:

naheemu said...

That s another good one from ur repetoire

when can i pass by to have these ..:):)...yummy.. my mouth is watering now.. kappal odikannulla vellam .....mmmm

Cheers
Naheem

Sumitha said...

Hi Sharmila!Welcome to the blogosphere!Enjoy your stay!Good Luck!You already have some mouthwatering dishes here!

Shivapriya said...

Hi Sharmi
You have a great blog, My mom makes most of the recipes you have posted and so do I.
Instead of post comment in each one I thought this would be little easy for me:D
1. Pineapple flowers looks great.
2. My moms preapares Bhendi stew ( bendakaya pulusu) same way and its my fav.
3. Beerakaya Dosa, she add ginger for little zing, cumins seeds and sometimes finely chopped onions, we call it beerakaya attu.
4. I'm not a big fan of deserts, though ur presentation and recipes looks great. My husband loves sweets so I might try out something from ur's.
In one word I can say that ur blog reminds me of my mom's cooking.
I'm really glad you stopped by and enjoyed it.
Oh god!! looks like i wrote a big list. :D
Will keep visiting you.

Sharmi said...

Thanks Shivapriya,
I feel happy that I could remind you of your mom. I have a lot of Andhra recipes coming up in future.

Priya Bhaskaran said...

Hi Sharmi, got to see your blog at Kerala kitchen--you have a beautiful blog with nice attractive template:)I got temepted to see your blog after seeing your name, my sister name is Sharmily:) bookmarked your blog--will visit often...btw, thanks for mentioning:) All the best:)

Pelicano said...

Sharmi-
That was a beautiful explanation of a very clever name for a blog...then, all the food pictured and written about is an offering to the Gods, as well as to all guests... I am honored to be a visitor.

Vani said...

I feel this is one of the best blogs for south indian food. I regularly visit your blog. Good going. Keep it up.

Arun Shanbhag said...

WoW! A beautiful blog!
Very creative and so much info here.
How do you get the time?

Thanks for sharing these valuable recipes.
Arun
www.arunshanbhag.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Sharmi - I came across your blog through the Foodie Blog Roll and wanted to let you know that I've become a fan. The images, color, music and recipes are very appealing! Best food blog karma to you ;)

LifenSpice said...

Hi Sharmi, u have a great blog.and I agree the name 'naivedyam' makes it even special.good going:)

Lakshmi ...Rasoi ki Malkin..northern and southern spices said...

Hi Sharmi,you have a great blog..Neivedyam.. a good name for your blog.I have book marked your blog and will visit quite often.Feel free to visit my place.
kanthi
http://myworld-kitchen.blogspot.com

Neenu M N said...

hi wer in michigan..?