Kamala Krishnan is all set. This year she is making gooseberry juice for the annual food festival conducted by the Vanita Vibhagam of the Thiruvananthapuram wing of the Kerala Brahmina Sabha.
Started three years ago by Radha Rangan and Kasturi Rangan, the food fete and exhibition turned out to be a hit and it’s success motivated the members to make it an annual affair. The highlight is undoubtedly vintage flavours from the heritage agraharams of the city. The seven food stalls have a cornucopia of traditional Brahmin cuisine, including fresh juice and preserves. One of the counters is dedicated to traditional medicine or food with medicinal values.
Right through the day, the food served will vary from idli, upma and dosa in the morning to curd rice in the afternoon to ada dosa, aviyal and idli sambar in the evening. Rice in myriad flavours will be sold from 11 a.m. onwards. So if you are craving for authentic puliyodharai, lemon rice or coconut rice, this is the place to be. By evening the menu will expand to include bhajis, bondas and vadas, sweets and savouries. Paal payasams and jaggery-based payasams were hotsellers in the previous year. Those will be availabe this year too. Jams, pickles, pappadams, appalams, masala powders and many kinds of dried veggies will be for sale.
“Certain dishes like nombu vada, which are made only during special occasions and poojas, will be a special attraction. Even in Brahmin households, these are not made every day. Visitors can snack on kozhukatta, thanni kozhukatta and upuma kozhukatta. These are things you would not find in restaurants and bakeries,” says Kamala.
“We organise the food fair sometime around International Women’s Day. All the food is cooked right there in live counters and served fresh. So you can see what you are going to eat. Seven other counters will have clothes, jewellery and knick knacks,” adds Kamala. The event is at Theerthapada Mandapam on Saturday and Sunday.
