Banning a fermented beverages and allowing distilled beverages is the height of stupidity which is happening in TN...Read below to understand more in detail

On 21- Jan-2009, The Palm-Wine tapping was planned by a group of people to show off their agitation against Palm-Wine tapping which is banned by TN Govt.

What is our food habit?

Our place is naturally bound by hot-hotter-hottest climate and we have/had some food habits to overcome the hot climate and body heat. Nowadays, it may not be relevant for the metro working culture due to A/C and other facilities available but still large amount of people are working in the hot sunlight.

Drinks:-

Nannari Sarpath (fresh lime juice with Nannari)

Butter milk

Tamarind mixed with Karuppukatti (palm sugar), also called as Panakaram in Rural

Old rice mixed with water, also called as Neeragaram in Rural

Foods:-

Idli

Dosai

Appam

Old rice mixed with butter milk

Lemon rice

Tamarind rice

Curd rice

Almost every food and drinks we use to have is sour taste in nature, why? There comes the logic, food habits are determined by the environment and nature…We use to take pro-biotic fermented foods & drinks which has lot of benefits for our body (you can surf on the net to find-out and market this healthy food)

http://www.wildfermentation.com/

Now let’s look at the drinks (alcoholic beverages) classifications

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage

People from many countries believe that drinking Beer and Wine is good for health since it comes under fermented beverages. So nothing wrong me saying drinking Palm-Wine (Palm wine – Natural sap from palm trees which has less alcoholic content when compared with Beer as well as Wine) is also good for health (My dad also told me the same by his own experience)

I used the name Palm-Wine to represent Kallu because the word has been registered as bad in our memory from our child-hood!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_wine

In parts of India, the unfermented sap is called "Neera" ("Padaneer" in Tamil Nadu) and is refrigerated, stored and distributed by semi-government agencies. A little lime is added to the sap to prevent it from fermenting. Neera is said to contain a lot of nutrients including potash.

Tamil Sangam literature contains many references to Toddy (Kallu) and Tirukkuṛaḷ contains a chapter on "Abhorrence of Toddy".

In India, palm wine or toddy is served as either neera (a sweet, non-alcoholic beverage derived from fresh sap) or kallu (a sour beverage made from fermented sap, but not as strong as wine).[4] Kallu is usually drunk soon after fermentation by the end of day, as it becomes more sour and acidic day by day and become vinegar

In Karnataka, India, palm wine is usually available at toddy shops (known as "Kallu Angadi" in Kannada or "Liquor Shop" in English). In Tamil Nadu, this beverage is currently banned, though the legality fluctuates with politics. In the absence of legal toddy, moonshine distillers of arrack often sell methanol-contaminated alcohol, which can have lethal consequences. To discourage this practice, authorities have pushed for inexpensive "Indian Made Foreign Liquor" (IMFL), much to the dismay of toddy tappers.

In the state of Andhra Pradesh (India), toddy is a popular drink in rural parts. The kallu is collected, distributed and sold by the people of a particular caste called Goud or Gownla. It is a big business in the cities of those districts. In villages, people drink it every day after work. In some villages in Karimnagar district, it is delivered daily to the door. The entire family (including children and women) sit in a circle in their backyard and enjoy kallu with dinner. Kallu is also offered to deities such as Theertham in many religious functions.

Research on ancient humans shows that they consumed toddy collected on rock pots under coconut trees which got broken.

Remember that Wine has 11~20% alcohol, Beer has 5~10% alcohol where as Palm wine has < 4% alcohol

http://www.fiiro-ng.org/palm-wine.htm