Lunch in a Kerala home is rice with several curries, and the table talk is all about taste: too spicy, a bit sour, more rice please. English speakers usually translate "This food is delicious" word by word into a long, bookish sentence. At the table nobody talks like that. In this episode: • What is on the table • Calling people to eat • The five tastes • Praising, more and enough • An invented scene: lunch with ammamma • Language bridge • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: ഊണ് (oonu) = lunch, the main rice meal ചോറ് (choru) = cooked rice. Raw rice is അരി (ari). കറി (kari) = curry, any wet side dish സാമ്പാർ (saambaar) = lentil and vegetable curry അവിയൽ (aviyal) = mixed vegetables in coconut തോരൻ (thoran) = dry stir-fried vegetables with grated coconut പപ്പടം (pappadam) = crispy pappadam അച്ചാർ (achaar) = pickle തൈര് (thairu) = curd, yogurt മോര് (moru) = buttermilk ഊണ് റെഡി! (oonu ready!) = Lunch is ready! ഊണ് കഴിക്കാൻ വാ (oonu kazhikkaan vaa) = come and have lunch കൈ കഴുകി വാ (kai kazhuki vaa) = wash your hands and come വിളമ്പട്ടെ? (vilambatte?) = shall I serve? കഴിക്കൂ (kazhikkoo) = please eat. This is the warm, polite form for guests and elders. എരിവ് (erivu) = spicy heat പുളി (puli) = sourness മധുരം (madhuram) = sweetness ഉപ്പ് (uppu) = saltiness, salt കയ്പ്പ് (kaippu) = bitterness എരിവുണ്ടോ? (erivundo?) = is it spicy? നല്ല എരിവ് (nalla erivu) = very spicy എരിവ് കൂടുതലാണ് (erivu kooduthalaanu) = it's too spicy എരിവ് കുറവാണ് (erivu kuravaanu) = it's mild, not much spice Learn Spoken Malayalam at Home: a complete course in everyday spoken Malayalam for English speakers. Native Malayalam pronunciation, every phrase in Malayalam script, Manglish and English, plus a language bridge comparing Malayalam with other world languages. Listen, repeat out loud, then take the 52-question quiz. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair.