Culture & Heritage – Thoothukudi Smart City

Thoothukudi has a vivid and rich culture. The region was ruled by many different rulers and impact of all of them including Portuguese, British and Dutch can be easily seen on the culture of the city at present. For example, Macaroons, a famous Thoothukudi sweet is known to be given by Portuguese over the years. Many churches situated all over the city indicate the influence of Christianity over the town.

People

People of Thoothukudi are very simple and sweet by nature. 70% of the people indulge in the agriculture for their earning, while the remaining are employed in the city’s salt pans, tourism, fishing and sea borne trading activities. Most of the people speak Tamil as it is the official language of the town. A lot of people also speak English. Some of the renowned people of the city include V.O.Chidambaram Pillai, Veerapandi Kattabomman, Subramania Bharathi and Umaru Pulavar. Subramania Bharathi was the famous poet born at Ettayapuram, while Veerapandi attabomman is known for waging a war against the British. V.O.Chidambaram Pillai is the most famous among all the renowned people of Thoothukudi. He was the one who brought the first swadeshi ship “Galia” to the Tuticorin port. Umaru Pulavar was one the greatest Islami poet and was born in Ettayapuram in 1642.

Religion and language

The main religion of the people of Thoothukudi is Hinduism which is the oldest religion of the region along with its various sects. However, the people belonging to other religions such as Islam, Christianity and Jainism also reside in the city. The main languages to be spoken in Thoothukudi are Tamil, Hindi and English.

Fairs and Festivals

One of the most famous festivals of Thoothukudi is Pongal just like the other parts of Tamil Nadu. It is also known as Makar Sankranti in other parts of our country and people celebrate it for four days in the month of January here. Other festivals include Deepavali, Dasara, Krishna Jayanti, Vinayaka Chaturthi, Milad un Nabi, Muharram, Eid ul-Zoha, Good Friday, Easter and Christmas. District specific festivals include Tuticorin Paniya Matha Festival, Skanda Sashti, Vaikasi Visakam and Muthaaramman Kovil Festival.

Food

The traditional food of Thoothukudi includes a variety of tempting vegetarian and non vegetarian delicacies. Thoothukudi cuisine offers some of the very best and authentic culinary delights for the tourists. These dishes are made in a very traditional way to keep its authenticity alive from generations to generations. Most of the curries in Thoothukudi are prepared with basic veetu masala, which is made from coriander seeds, red chilly, turmeric root, cumin seeds and parboiled rice. Let us take a glance some of the known delicacies of Thoothukudi Cuisine:

Vegetarian Delicacies of Thoothukudi

Vatthal Kulambu is type of Vattha Curry. Ingredients used in this dish include Sundakka, small onions, tamarind, garlic, jiggery, sambar powder, mustard, sesame oil, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, chana dal, dry red chilli, curry leaves and asafoetida powder.Venthaya Kali is another famous vegetarian preparation of Thoothukudi cuisine and is served in breakfast mainly. Although some people also prepares the same for the dinner. It is made from rice, fenugreek, jiggery, salt, sesame or gingely oil and water.

Non – Vegetarian Delicacies of Thoothukudi

Meen Kulambu is one of the most famous fish curry preparation of Thoothukudi cuisine. The gravy of this dish is prepared from oil, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, onion, tomato, chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt, tamarind pulp and water. After preparing the gravy, marinated fish is to be added in the dish.Meen Varuval is a special fish fry preparation of Thoothukudi cuisine. It is prepared by marinating and later frying the fish and at the end adding the prepared spice mixture to it. Spice mixture used in this dish is prepared from coconut, onion and cumin seeds.Karuvaddu Kulambu is a type of dry fish curry. It is made from dry fish, tamarind paste, red chilli poweder, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric, field beans, drumstick and brinjal slices, sesame oli, mustard, fenugreek seeds, onion, tomato, garlic, curry leaves, salt and coconut milk.

Sweet Delicacies of Thoothukudi

Tuticorin Macaroon – unlike other macaroons found all over the world, Tuticorin Macaroons are made from cashews rather than ground almonds or coconut. Apart from cashews, the preparation uses egg whites, fine sugar and salt as well.Ulunthang Kali is a sweet preparation of Black Urad dal, rice, palm sugar and grated coconut and is very famous in the region.