In Kerala, rice is the food, the word for food, and the centre of the farming year. Start with ചോറ്, the word that means rice, food and care all at once. Then the grains: red matta, raw pachari, and the protected heritage varieties, including pokkali, which is grown in brackish coastal fields in rotation with prawns. After that, the paddy field from seedbed to granary, the cooking vocabulary, and why a paddy field filled in for house plots ends up as a dry well in April. Words and phrases in this class: ചോറ് (choru) – cooked rice; food itself ചോറ് കഴിച്ചോ? (choru kazhicho?) – have you eaten? അരി (ari) – uncooked rice മട്ട അരി (matta ari) – Kerala red parboiled rice പച്ചരി (pacchari) – raw white rice വയൽ (vayal) – paddy field ഞാറ് (njaaru) – rice seedlings കൊയ്ത്ത് (koythu) – harvest ഉമി (umi) – husk തവിട് (thavidu) – bran വൈക്കോൽ (vaikkol) – straw കഞ്ഞി (kanji) – rice gruel പണ്ട് ഇത് വയലായിരുന്നു (pandu ithu vayalaayirunnu) – this used to be a paddy field In this class: • ചോറ്: one word for rice, food and care • Red matta, raw pachari and Kerala's heritage varieties • The paddy field from seedbed to granary • Why a disappearing paddy field means a dry well in April Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.