Thali 480550 225458680 2008-07-13T20:19:22Z B 1300609 rm deleted (copyvio) image - please do not replace it except with a GFDL or similarly licensed image. If you don't know what this means, ask first at [[WP:Media copyright questions]] [[Image:Vegetarian Curry.jpeg|thumb|300px|Vegetarian thali served in a restaurant in Tokyo]] [[Image:Lunch Thali - Bismi Goldan Fork.jpeg|thumb|Thali, served in Melbourne, Australia]] '''Thali''' ([[Hindi]]: थाली meaning ''plate'') is an [[India|Indian]] meal with contents varying from one [[Indian cuisine|regional cuisine]] to another. A thali is a selection of different dishes, usually served in small bowls on a round tray. The round tray is generally made with steel with multiple compartments. In [[North America]] people sometimes use plastic thalis because they are disposable. Typical dishes include [[rice]], [[dhal]], [[vegetables]], [[chapati]], [[papadum|papad]], [[curd]] ([[yoghurt]]), small amounts of [[chutney]] or [[Indian pickle|pickle]], and a sweet dish to top it. Restaurants typically offer a choice of [[vegetarian]] or [[meat]]-based thalis. Depending on the restaurant or the region you are in, the thali consists of delicacies native to that region. The [[Cuisine of North India|North Indian]] thali starts out with [[puri]]s, chapatis ([[roti]]s), different vegetarian specialities(curries), usually a sweet, and other miscellaneous items. The [[Cuisine of South India|South Indian]] thali comes with [[appam]]s [[Papadum|papad]], [[rice]] delicacies and similar items from the North Indian. In some restaurants, a thali may include "bottom-less" refills on all components of food; the idea is that one eats until fully satisfied. Such thalis are referred to as 'unlimited' thalis. In some places the term means that everything in the plate excepting a few items like the sweet preparation or [[dahi wada]] is open to unlimited helpings. Thalis sometimes go even by the regional characteristic of the items they have. For example one may encounter [[Rajasthani cuisine|Rajasthani]] thali or [[Gujarati cuisine|Gujarati]] thali. In [[Maharashtra]] the term 'rice plate' was (and still occasionally is) used for the concept of thali. At many places in India, the [[bread]] and the rice preparation are not served together in the thali. Typically, one finds the Indian bread being offered first and the waiter serves the rice subsequent to the consumption of bread, often in a separate bowl or dish. As one moves geographically to the South, the emphasis gets shifted to the rice preparation especially from the point of view of quantity. One finds here places which offer exclusively rice in their thalis. The reverse, however, is not true anywhere in India. Rice, even if it is in a modest amount seems to be essential to the popular definition of thali in India. One does not term an exclusively bread offering as thali. But one is often given the option of asking for bread instead of rice at several places. Also there are arrangements especially in Northern and Northwestern India (in fact, even [[Pakistan]] and [[Afghanistan]]) where one is offered bread exclusively as a part of a meal. One encounters such arrangements especially at a [[dhaba]]. Typically, the bread is unlimited in such cases. ==South Indian meaning== '''Thali''' is often refer to the [[wedding]] chain in traditional [[Hindu]] wedding ceremony that the groom ties around the bride's neck. This ''taali'' is also called ''mangalsutra'' and is symbolically akin to the exchange of rings in western weddings. However, while '''thali''', the meal plate, has an aspirated "th" sound (as in a breathy voiced "H" sound within the "th" sound), the synonym for ''mangalsutra'' begins with the soft-but-not-aspirated ''t'' sound common in Spanish and Italian. Also, the ''l'' sound of ''taali'' is much harder than a regular ''l'', more between an ''l'' and a ''d''. [[Gold]] and [[silver]] are the only metals used to make a ''taali'' and pendant is generally cast in a few traditional shapes, often specific to a particular region or community or both. However a simple orange colored thread can replace gold, and a [[turmeric]] root, the pendant, without any loss of symbolic value. ==See also== * [[Indian cuisine]] {{unreferenced|date=August 2007}} [[Category:Indian cuisine]] [[Category:Meals]] [[de:Thali]] [[fr:Thali]] [[he:טאלי]] [[nl:Thalis]] [[pl:Thali]]