What Connects South Indian ‘Kanji’ to Chinese ‘Congee’?
I was never a fan of kanji. To me it was nothing more than watery and salty rice. It also didn’t help that the only time I ate it was when I was sick thus, I always associate kanji to sickness which is not the most comforting thought. So when people express their love for kanji and call it their comfort food, it always throws me off. But the day I had congee, it hit different. It was at a Korean jook or congee restaurant in Queens and it was creamy and smooth and had cheese…it was just so different from what I was used to! So different that I didn’t even realize congee and kanji were ultimately the same thing and sounded the same too. I think it especially dawned on me when I tried to make congee at home with fresh turkey broth I made right after Thanksgiving. I added nice chunks of shredded turkey and some of the turkey gravy as well and it was literally one of the best things I made.
Kanji and congee do have their differences. Traditional kanji recipes center around fermentation whereas traditional congee recipes center around rice texture and umami from broths. Fermentation does increase umami but kanji is usually purely vegetarian, directed by Ayurvedic food science. Congee is often seasoned with a type of meat based broth although vegetarian versions exist as well. Both, kanji and congee, are notably consumed during times of sickness and often referred to as comfort meals. There are also so many versions of both involving almost all types of rice, grains, legumes and lentils.
I took some time to scour the internet for some evidence on either the origination of congee/kanji or if there is any proof of the relation between congee and kanji. Turns out there is proof, well kind of. Honestly, it gets really hard trying to research parts of ancient Asia. I don’t know why but I am never satisfied with the information I get because either the claims are from a blog post (much like this one) or some random website that doesn’t even have links to reliable sources such as university studies or anthropological/scientific accounts. Basically finding facts backed up with researched proof is just tough. BUT, according to a post on Food52, the author claims that there is some probability that congee or the concept of congee originated in China. But then she proceeds to also mention that the term congee comes from a word in the Tamil language, kanji. In Malayalam rice porridge is also known as kanji which makes sense because of the proximity of the two Indian states, Tamil Nadu & Kerala, and the co-dependent history. However, I couldn’t wrap my head around how if congee originated in China how could the name itself be originating in India? Now, I also read blog posts from Hari Nair and Preeti Deepa (i’m not sure who they are) that state they believe congee was originated in India and spread to China through Tamil traders or perhaps the spread of Buddhism. Side note: maybe it should be expected that Food52 is more “reliable” than blog posts but big publications have also countlessly proven to be unreliable as well (*shots fired*). So, I think it is still valid to continue questioning the origins of the dish. Perhaps the answer lies in early civilization rice cultivation but that is another rabbit hole!
Just to be clear, rice porridge exists all over the world for many centuries and it is known by many different names with many different variations. I just wanted to focus mostly on the connection between the two names and how both generally refer to rice porridge. A linguistics professor, Lisa Lim, suggests the involvement of the Portuguese. It could make sense because canja de galinha is chicken soup with rice and canja sounds similar to congee and kanji. She mentions in her SCMP article that the Portuguese encountered the word during their colonial reign in South India as documented by a botanist and physician named Garcia de Orta. Kanji was noted as canje which ultimately became canja. When the British started establishing colonies and their trade networks, canje or canja ultimately became congee in English. Lim further noted that the British often took on words that had been adopted by earlier European colonizers. This seems to logically make a lot of sense. Congee is actually commonly referred to as zhou or juk in China, khao tom in Thailand, lugaw in the Philippines, bubur ayam in Indonesia, and so on. None of these names are similar at all and yet they are all mainly rice porridge. So it could be that the similarity is not due to where rice porridge or kanji or congee originated, but rather the etymology of the name congee. Boiling down rice and making a meal out of it doesn’t seem to be such a novel concept if you have civilizations all over Asia thriving and depending on rice. It’s almost like the word curry, a regional term that gets anglicized then projected onto other regions during periods of colonialism or trade. Congee is like this catch-all term.
I am just theorizing based off of Lisa Lim’s conclusions and so I wouldn’t want to completely rule out ancient trade routes. I do remember learning about the travels of Admiral Zheng He back in in high school and so there was a lot of trading that occurred between Southern India and China. But trying to get to the bottom of the origination of this dish took me through a whirlwind of history of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In fact there are a couple of Hindu temples in Quanzhou, China! I also did not know how integral the South Indian coast was to trading between many different civilizations especially Arabian and East/Southeast Asian traders. A particular article by the Deccan Herald noted that Mamallapuram, an ancient port city in Tamil Nadu, has evidence of constant trade with China for at least 2,000 years. Now this is another rabbit hole for another blog post!
Links to websites mentioned/referenced:
http://know-your-heritage.blogspot.com/2017/06/food-in-sangam-literature-3-rice-and.html
https://harinair.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/kanji-to-congee/?unapproved=9405&moderation-hash=26b2260b4a52aa469debef60ca6fabf1#comment-9405
https://congeenyc.com
https://food52.com/blog/24068-congee-rice-porridge-across-cultures
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=35354
https://www.slurrp.com/article/tamil-kanji--origin-and-connection-to-the-chinese-congee-1628245022061
https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/how-to-make-congee-kanji-recipe-rice-based-recipe-2392222
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2119163/where-word-congee-comes-answer-may-surprise-you
https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/chola-king-s-delegation-to-china-tn-s-ancient-links-to-the-119100700818_1.html
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ancient-links-between-tamil-traders-and-a-chinese-port-city/story-3jFGUOd4dmz7RHvNNVIEtK.html
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/three-crowned-kings-tamilakam/
https://www.peepultree.world/livehistoryindia/story/people/zheng-he#
https://www.deccanherald.com/india/mamallapuram-china-ties-date-back-to-2000-years-766523.html
https://thatscurry.com/the-congee-porridges-an-ancient-delicacy-of-the-tamils/
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/10/27/499358436/porridge-the-food-that-built-empires-stages-a-savory-comeback
https://jenniferangelalee.com/food-history-blog/congee
https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/congee.htm
https://www.handfulofrecipes.com/recipes/oushadha-kanji
https://palatesdesire.com/rice-kanji-homemade-probiotics/
https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/chicken-congee