Years ago, when we rushed to our homes during the school lunch break, almost the same type of aroma used to come from the kitchens of homes on the way. There was not much difference between the dishes prepared at one home from another.
For breakfast, the young and the old used to have kanji, the fermented rice gruel of the leftover rice of the previous evening. They would consume it with the last night’s fish curry, curd, or buttermilk. Green chillies and small onions would be crushed in it. A plateful of kanji would provide enough energy even for physical labour.
In a few houses, dosa or idli would be prepared from the fermented batter of parboiled rice and urad. The batter would be prepared the previous evening by men or women rotating the heavy stone pestle in the mortar for about two hours. Coconut chutney and sambar, whose ingredients were made at home, would accompany them. Those were the items available in the tea shops also. Most of those who visited those shops would also order black tea or coffee along with these items.
One of the main reasons for the annual visit of bachelors living in other parts of the country was eating the traditional food items. Getting the Kerala fares outside the State was an impossible task for them. When the train entered Kerala, they would rush to the tea stalls on the platform and order the food items.
A new trend has come up along the highways in Kerala today. One comes across prominent advertisements of homes serving traditional food on banana leaves. Only some insiders know that most cooks are ‘guest workers’ from other States.
The food habits of people have changed in all parts of the country thanks to the influence of modern media and marketing. When I ordered idlis from a tea shop in Kerala one morning recently, I was told that only chappatis and beef were available. The guy informed me that I would get only those items in other restaurants, too. Idlis, dosas, and other food items native to Kerala were available only in a few vegetarian restaurants run by certain chains of hotels.
The new generation is happy that the eateries now offer dishes that were available only in some foreign countries till a few years ago. Wrinkling their nose at the mention of dosa or idli, they order items like burgers, pizzas, noodles, and Manchurians. Bakeries have made changes in their productions to suit the new food preferences of people preparing them even at home.
In the evenings, open spaces in most cities are now crowded with stalls selling various food items unheard of some years ago. In cities such as Kochi in Kerala, some restaurants sell food items from the Gulf countries. They are often visited by people who had once worked in those countries.
Indian cities have been buzzing with night stalls open till early morning, offering food items available in different parts of the country. Non-vegetarian food is no more a taboo, and even women consume it openly, resulting in the opening of several such eateries in cities. The only difference is that they do not prepare them at home.