Being so versatile, it’s no wonder Roti is giving the rice a run for its money!
Chapati, widely known as roti, is a typical staple food in South Asian countries. But, what is the history of chapati? Where did it originate from?
Its prominence in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh favours equally if not more than rice. No Desi meal is complete without a serving of this delicious wholemeal flatbread.
Traditionally, chapati is made without salt, giving a bland background to spicy dishes. But, there are many variations of roti found around the world.
The popularity of this side dish stretches from India to America and parts of Europe. Yet, each culture has its own extensive history of chapati and how this side dish came to be so well-known.
DESIblitz looks back on the origin and historical background of chapatis.
The Origins of Chapati
There are many stories behind the history of Chapati.
Some say that Chapati came from the Egyptian Indus Valley civilisation 5000 years ago. Others claim it was founded in East Africa and brought over to India.
However, the most common evidence is that it was founded in Southern India.
Chapati is mentioned in old Sanskrit text from over 6000 years ago.
It is also said it was a favourite of King Akbar way back in 1556.
Back then, agriculture was a major occupation in India. The people of India were able to grow wheat and other dry food substances. But, lacked in other sources of crops.
So by cultivating millets and other grains in bulk, grinding them and mixing them with water – Chapati was born.
Consisting of ground-down wheat and flour, it was a more satisfying way of eating the crops they could grow.
Chapati quickly became an essential for travellers, as a bowl for food. It was easy to make, easy to cook, and was extremely filling. It quickly became a South Asian food staple.
A complicated, yet, fascinating history of chapati.
How Other Countries adopted Chapati
Most countries known for eating chapati with their meals are from the South Asia region of the world.
Chapati was essentially brought into other countries via travellers from the countries in this region.
It became an innovative food for them to carry as it was filling, travelled well, and rarely went off.
It could even hold water and food and also be eaten once used.
Chapati became popular with the British in 1857, during the Independence War.
Army dining halls would serve them to soldiers. It became so popular that the British soon preferred chapati to rice whenever they sat down to eat.
However, a lot of popularity for the chapati came from immigration. As more South Asian families moved to the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Africa, Europe and other parts of the world.
They brought over their cuisine with them and introduced it to locals who developed a palette for foods like roti. Indian and South Asian restaurants offer many types of roti on their menus today.
South Asian cooking became very popular and soon everyone was learning how to make their own curries, rice, and side dishes, and of course, roti.
Although over the years the basic recipe for roti has rarely changed. It has quickly been adopted and become a staple food for many other cultures as well as India.
How has Chapati Changed Today?
With a rise in experimental cooking, this small flatbread, and a powerful filling up tool, has quickly become a side dish phenomenon.
South Asian cooking is very much in the limelight and learning how to make chapati using different flours has developed a major interest.
It’s popular because it is easy and simple to make.
Not only that, but, today roti can be brought ready made in most Asian food stores and supermarkets. Frozen or unfrozen, ready-cooked wholemeal Chapatis are available in 8-12 packs.
Brands such as Elephant Atta, Nishaan, Shana and Ashoka all provide rotis which you can heat and eat.
Yet, traditional chapatis were famous for having no flavour.
So, whatever dish it’s paired with, it won’t have its original flavour silenced by the chapati.
It can be eaten with sweet and savoury food, making it an extremely versatile side dish staple.
There are hundreds of recipes online, adopted from different cultures and modernised. Roti has evolved from being plain and boring to being an exciting side dish.
Being both easy to make at home and commercially accessible, the chapati has quickly transformed from a bland flatbread to a cuisine delight in different forms such as Akki Roti, Makdi Di Roti and Romali Roti to name but a few.
You can serve it with curries, deals, sabzi and even serve it with a little sugar and butter as a well known old custom dish, albeit not the most healthy of combinations.
Yet, it’s interesting to discover how this simple flatbread has made its way around various cultures and countries to reach its popularity from very simple beginnings.
There you have it, the history of chapati and roti – a food that gives all a wonderful satisfying taste when we dip it into our favourite dal or curry.
Loading ...