Kerala cuisine has been influenced by various travelers and seafarers. Its variety of fish and meat dishes continually remind foreigners who came here during the early years. The long stretch of its coastline and the abundant marine life in Kerala ensure that abundantly available coconut, shellfish and other things form an important part of Kerala food and cuisine. Influenced by foreigners, beef consumption has become very popular here.
For several years, the coconut tree has been part of the life of the Keralites. The use of coconut is mostly seen in the food of this state. Everything the land has to offer here is used to prepare cuisine that is easy yet tasty.
Kerala’s main food is unpolished rice. Apart from boiled rice, there are a variety of snacks made from cereal that Keralites consume. The most common include bamboo-shaped puttu, noodle-shaped idiyappam, lace-edged palappam, sweet unniappam, fluffy vattayappam, pancake-shaped kallappam, and stuffed ball-shaped kozhikotta. This is not everything. Roti type bread in Kerala is called pathiri. You can make it into a simple thin bread known as vatipathiri or a box-like roti called pettipathiri. Chattipathiri is a sweet cake that forms an important part of Kerala cuisine. The pathiris are fried before being stuffed with lamb, beef or chicken. They are steamed once stuffed with fish.
Kerala cuisine also offers several proprietary fermented beverages. Famous drinks are kallu (toddy), Kerala rasam and patta charayam (arrack). Arrack is a very intoxicating drink that is usually eaten together with pickles and hard-boiled eggs.
The cooking method of all South Indian dishes is almost the same. Includes less use of oil, additives and sugar. The food is prepared in a very healthy way with lots of herbs, coconut and other spices. The addition of spices along with tamarind gives the local cuisine a distinctive flavor.
In the kitchens of Kerala, delicious dishes are prepared in a simple way in all the communities that reside there. Plain tapioca root can be served as a main course once boiled and sautéed with coconut sauce and spices, as a snack once salted and fried, and as a dessert steamed with coconut and brown sugar.
Simply put, Kerala cuisine has deep roots in the history and culture of this beautiful state.
