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Lassi

Dairy-Based and Fermented Milk Beverages

Lassi is a yogurt-based drink from the Indian subcontinent, made by blending yogurt with water or milk and typically sweetened with sugar or flavored with fruit, or, in savory versions common in Punjab, salted and spiced with roasted cumin. It belongs to a long tradition of dairy consumption on the subcontinent that stretches back to the pastoral communities described in the earliest Vedic texts, though no specific point of origin can be fixed for lassi itself as a drink distinct from the broader, ancient practice of fermenting and drinking yogurt and buttermilk; it is better understood as one expression of a very old dairy culture than as a dish with a datable point of invention. Mango lassi, blending yogurt with mango pulp, is a widely popular modern variant, especially outside South Asia.

Facts
Earliest Documented Use, From (Year)
from 1882 1
Origin RegionSourced to the subject's own account
Punjab, in the northern Indian subcontinent 2
Connections

Expresses Tradition

Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson

Uses Ingredient

Yogurt, Ingredients
Source Lassi (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidsontier 1
Sources
1. Lassi (Wikipedia)
Lead paragraph
Quote, Lead paragraph
The word 'lassi' for the drink is a borrowing from Hindi, first attested in 1882; its ultimate origin is unclear, and has been suggested as derived ultimately from Sanskrit lasya (stickiness) or rasah (juice).
View the Source
2. Lassi (TasteAtlas)
TasteAtlasView the Source
The Oxford Companion to Food
Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2014
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