We used to wait eagerly for the summer vacations in our School days. Every year the period starting from May till the end of June, meant that we said farewell to our schools and books and enjoyed playing the whole day long .What made the vacations special was, our visits to the villages. I harbored a natural love for the village: the mango gardens, the rice field, the big open play grounds, the ponds and above all the authentic odia food. I relished the odia dishes - the saga bahaja,the aalu bhaja,aalu poda,sukua,badi chura and above all the Pakhala.There is something special about these dishes, some sort of simplicity that I find missing in other dishes. Probably there is something distinctly Odia in Pakhala.Probably Pakhala is the food of Odia's just as the Sattu for the Bihari's and Dal Bati for the Rajasthani's. However that does not mean pakhala is eaten and savored only by Odia's. In fact,the popularity of pakhala transgresses the Odisha  border to be enjoyed in states like Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh and even in some parts of Myanmar and Bangladesh. To the Bengali’s it is known as Panta Bhat,to the natives of Chattisgarh as Pakhal Bhat or Bore Bhat and to the Assamiya as Poita Bhat. Not only this, People in southern India have their own form of pakhala, the ‘tair sadam’ / curd rice which falls in the same category. Nobody is sure about the origin of the dish or how and when it got embedded in our culinary habits. Vague references about a rice dish fermented in water can be found in ancient Buddhistic inscriptions in pali.But it was not until it got accepted as a main item of food for Lord Jagganth and began to be offered to the devotees as prasadam, that it started getting wide acceptance from local inhabitants. The ‘abhada pakahal’, in fact, greatly popular through out the state began from the kitchens of Lord Jagannath. If language be taken as the parameter to judge historical significance, then we will have some interesting but contradictory results at our disposal. The word pakhala , strangely, owes its origin to the Sanskrit word ‘Paka’ that means taste. The tribal equivalent of the word refers to something that is “Fresh and energeti”. Thus it seems in its heydays,Pakhala was consumed for its freshness and revitalizing effect. A staple diet of every farmer or peasant even today, it is not difficult to conclude what an important place it held on the dietary habits of our ancestors.Even to this date we can hear sayings that praise its worth. An old couplet that comes to mind is Pakhala Bhata ku na kariba Hina Pakhal Bhata Debata samana! It is interesting to note here that during the period of Bengal renaissance, Brahmin cooks from Puri were hired en masse to cook in the kitchens of Bengali Zamindars.Famed for their culinary skills, they were referred to as ‘Ude Thakurs’.As a result of this migration, many Odia Dishes like Rasagolla and Kheeri entered into the food habits of the Bengalis. But Pakhala could never really catch the fancy of the Bengali people.For many Bengali households, its inclusion in the local cuisine is regarded as embarrassing. Probably couplets like the one mentioned above were created in retaliation. Whatever be the history, Pakhala Bhata holds its significance to our dining habit not only because of the taste but also owing to the geographical position and environmental conditions prevalent here. Can any other diet give us more satisfaction than a diet of pakhala in the scorching summers? Pakahala Bhata contains partially hydrolyzed starch and carbohydrates and many other vitamins along with sufficient water. This water is responsible for maintaining balanced temperature in the body during the heat of summers. Apart from the high cooling effect that it has, the fermented rice is a great protector of the Liver. Also the food being full of Yeast, promotes healthier cell production in the body. With the kind of acceptance it has and the adoration it commands among the Odia's, it is really astounding that, we hardly find any references about this wonderful dish in any culinary books. This is partly because of our accepting new dishes and newer eating habits. But does that mean we should move away from antiquity, our tradion? Pakhal is something that distinctly relates to Orissa. And even if we are moving into modernity, lets do our bit by preserving this.  Bande Utkal Janani .