FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
K S S Pillai
My granddaughter often indulges in cooking with the help of YouTube or magazines with regular columns on cooking. She brings me a plateful of what she prepared and waits for my opinion after consuming a spoonful. I have a fleeting suspicion that others in the family clandestinely observe what happens to me after I eat it. Praying silently and asking my creator to forgive my sins, I close my eyes and gobble up the food. It does not turn out to be my last meal, and I hear the sound of clattering vessels from the kitchen, indicating that the others are about to consume what she cooked.
There was no such apprehension during my childhood. Idlis, dosas, appams, puttu, or such items were the usual items prepared for breakfast along with tea or coffee, often without milk. They were the items available in the tea shops too.
Another favourite item in most houses was the 'pazhankanji', meaning old rice gruel. It was prepared with the previous night's leftover gruel and kept the whole night for fermentation. It was consumed with hot green chillies called 'kanthari', crushed shallots, curd, and a few other things. It was a source of nutrition as well as energy for manual work.
Food items for lunch and dinner were also predictable, with little change from one house to another. Some had vegetarian food, and others were non-vegetarian, fish being certain in most places.
Every state had its traditional food cooked in oil that was locally produced. While the people of Kerala used coconut oil, others used oil from mustard, sesame and other oilseeds.
When my wife came to Gujarat after our wedding, she used to prepare only Kerala food. Then we shifted to the staff quarters of Gujarat Agriculture University, where our neighbours were Gujaratis. Once men left on duty, women would interact with one another. While they gave platefuls of Gujarati food to my wife, she reciprocated with idlis or dosas along with coconut chutney or sambar. As the neighbours liked these items, they asked for information about their preparation. During festivals like Diwali, women would move from house to house in groups, preparing the traditional Diwali food items. They treated us as one of them, and the dishes were prepared and stored.
The food habit of people has changed throughout the country. During a visit to my home state after a gap of some years, I was astonished to find that idlis and dosas had been replaced with beef and paratha in almost all restaurants. I also came across several eateries that offered 'homemade traditional Kerala food'. My friends informed me later that many of the cooks at these places were immigrants from other states! In cities like Kochi, food stalls offering different types of fancy food remain open till early morning.
Now there are several shops preparing food items called Chinese, Continental and other faraway countries, patronized by many from the new generation. It is the food that they prefer to that cooked by their grandmothers.
The overflow of patients suffering from diseases unheard of in the past is now sending doctors merrily to their bank, laughing all the way.
