In Kerala, food is the medium through which care, welcome, apology and celebration are all said. This class covers the core food words, the 'less spicy' sentence every visitor needs, and why Malayalam has no everyday word for please: politeness lives in the verb ending (തരാമോ?), as in Japanese and Korean. You also learn കൈപ്പുണ്യം, the blessedness of a cook's hands, and how to stop the serving spoon when you really are full. Words and phrases in this class: ചോറ് (choru) – rice; a proper meal കറി (kari) – curry മീൻ (meen) – fish മുട്ട (mutta) – egg ഉപ്പ് (uppu) – salt എരിവ് (erivu) – spiciness, heat എരിവ് കുറയ്ക്കണം (erivu kuraykkanam) – less spicy, please വെള്ളം തരാമോ? (vellam tharaamo?) – could I have some water? വെള്ളം താ (vellam thaa) – give me water (between family) അമ്മയുടെ കൈപ്പുണ്യം (ammayude kaippunyam) – Amma's blessed hands (her cooking gift) സത്യം, മതി (sathyam, mathi) – truly, that's enough ഞാൻ ഇറങ്ങട്ടെ (njaan irangatte) – I'll take my leave In this class: • The food words that do the most work, starting with ചോറ് • No word for please: politeness carried by the verb ending • കൈപ്പുണ്യം, the highest compliment in a Kerala kitchen • The serving ritual, and how to stop it with സത്യം, മതി Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.