Ugadi is the New Year festival of the Telugu people living in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is celebrated with a lot of fervour and pomp on the first day of the bright half of the lunar month of Chaitra, which are the months of March-April according to the English calendar. There are symbolic six tastes of a dish of this festival and it is the popular dish of UgadiPachadi.

Tastes Of Ugadi Pachadi

Many delicacies are prepared during this festival and UgadiPacchadi, is the most popular among them. This dish is a fusion of various tastes. The six tastes of UgadiPachhadi are sweet, sour, salty bitter, pungent and spicy and the basic ingredients are neem, jaggery, mango, tamarind, chilli and salt. These ingredients reflect the six aspects or emotions of life.

Symbolic Six Tastes of a Dish

The significance of this special dish UgadiPachhadi is that it symbolizes the six flavours of Ugadipachadi that reflects the various emotions of life as follows.

• Neem- This ingredient has a bitter taste and hence it symbolizes the bitterness of life.
• Jaggery- This imparts a sweet taste to the dish and symbolizes happiness of life.
• Tamarind- It has a sour taste and it reflects the unpleasant, disgusting phase of life.
• Mango- The tangy taste of the raw mango symbolizes the unexpected and the surprises of life.
• Salt- The salty taste signifies the fear, the unknown.
• Chilli- The red, hot chilli signifies the anger and outbursts in life.

The symbolic six tastes of a dish are reflected in UgadiPachadi which is the cult favourite of the people of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.