FAALGEE – SHERPA COMMUNITY'S CEREAL BASED ETHNIC DISH: A NON-FERMENTED FOOD

ABSTRACT

Faalgee is an ethno traditional dish of Sherpa community. It is predominantly prepared and consumed by the traditionally enriched people residing in the Himalayan region of Sikkim. Thus only few members of the old tribes of Sherpa community residing in this Himalayan region have this traditional knowledge to prepare this cereal based non-fermented dish, Faalgee. Our emphasis in this paper is to document this indigenous knowledge of preparation of this ethnic dish of Sherpa communities. It is basically prepared from maize seeds during August to October as it is grown abundantly during this period. Partially ripe maize cones are placed in a perforated container called Jaygha (copper pot) with water and boiled in a chula until maize is properly cooked. The cooked maize is removed from container and the seeds of maize are separated from the cones. The separated seeds are sun dried in Gundrey (mat) for 2-3 days. These dried seeds of maize are called Faalgee. Faalgee dish is prepared by grinding these dried seeds of maize, in Gatay (grinder). This grinded maize seeds are cooked in a container with water until it gets swollen and this swollen Faalgee is cooked in edible oil or ghee. A Faalgee dish is generally prepared during winter seasons by the Sherpa community. It’s generally believed that Faalgee soup keeps the body warm during the extreme cold winter at the higher altitudes.

Key Words: Traditional dish, non-fermented, Faalgee, Sherpa, Aarmang, Sikkim

REFERENCES

1. Brower, B. 1991. Sherpa of Khumbu: People, Livestock, and Landscape. Oxford University Press, Delhi.
2. Gordon, K.H. 1969. Sherpa Phonemic Summary. Tibeto-Burman Phonemic Summaries, vol. VII, Summer Institute of Linguistics and Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
3. Sestini, V. and Somigli, E. 1978. Sherpa Architecture. UNESCO.
4. Sherpa, T.L. 1999. The Sherpas and Sharkhumbu. Nepal Lithographing Co., Kathmandu, Nepal.
5. Ortner, S.B. 1989. High Religion: A Cultural and Political History of Sherpa Buddhism. Princeton University Press. New Jersey, USA.
6. Oppitz, M. 1973. Myths and Facts: Reconstructing some Data concerning the Clan History of the Sherpa. Contributions to the Anthropology of Nepal. Aris and Phillips. Warminster, UK.
7. Fisher, J.F. 1990. Sherpas: a Reflection on Change in Himalayan Nepal. University of