As Eldho Pachilakadan talks about food, eating and diet, it dawns on me that it is more about analysing ‘why we eat how we eat what we eat’. Which, unlike most of us, he has done and therefore the conversation. Eldho has been on a raw vegan diet for the last four-odd years and we are at his raw food restaurant, Primate, possibly Kerala’s first.
To us, who eat on whim, his way of life is beyond comprehension. But to move from table to table explaining ‘raw’ takes conviction and commitment. He talks to a couple of first timers at his eatery as the pair listens interestedly. Primate has been creating a buzz and notching part-time converts with its accent on the ‘alternative’, the restaurant is his way of propagating the alternative. It is more than making money.
Primate is a radical premise - eating uncooked, unprocessed vegan food. “Do you know man is the only creature that derives his proteins, vitamins and nourishment from such a vast variety of foods and food groups?” he asks. What he seems to imply is that, if we have to cook a ‘food item’ to make it palatable, should we even be eating it in the first place? An uncomfortable, difficult-to-answer question.
“I haven’t eaten cooked food in all these years, neither have my wife or kids. In fact, my four-year old daughter doesn’t know what cooked food is. And we are all fine.” He attributes health and feeling energetic to the new diet. Breakfast, lunch and/or dinner is as simple as grabbing a fruit - a guava or a banana. “It is not fancy like here.”
Primate is tastefully done up, part of a trio of restaurants, overlooking Panampilly Nagar, the interiors of which are dominated by wood. On a counter attached to the window sit a couple of pots with greens sprouting, one is a tiny orange tree with fruit (the juice of which we are treated to). Each of the potted plants, micro greens et al has a reason to be.
The concept is so new, fantastic and foreign that we are unsure about the protocol. A restaurant without a kitchen, without fire; an only knife and food processor kitchen is a first. Is it going to be ‘we’ll have a bunch of spinach’ or ‘can we have some carrots, please?’ A friendly waiter arrives, menu in hand, wearing a knowing smile, he knows a pair of raw food rookies when he sees them. The menu doesn’t mean much in our context. Curiously, though, it does begin with desserts.
‘Trial combo meal’ he suggests. “Since this is your first time here we recommend this to newcomers.” He too is a recent convert proudly sporting a new convert’s fervour. It is a soup-starter-main course combination. In the version we opt for the soup is ‘I am Healthy’ (herbed tender coconut and avocado gazpacho), the starter ‘I am Exotic’ (assorted vegetables with labneh) and the main course ‘I am Breeze’ (‘Mexican tacos’ served with beet salad).
An architect, Eldho is part of the Travancore Natural History Society and has worked extensively in the Silent Valley and in the forests of the Western Ghats. “We researched ants, the kind that live underground, dragonflies, butterflies...every kind of fauna and flora. The time I spent there opened my eyes to this way of life,” he says. Initially a ‘fruitarian’, he converted to raw, vegan food for access to a wider variety.
First to arrive is a platter of, what looks like, desserts. As it sits there, we wonder about the next move. “Start a meal with sweets, you will feel sated. The sweet calms hunger pangs,” Eldho says. Chocolate Marbles, Coconut-dates-nuts cookies and Cheesecake. The cheesecake that day was cashew nut milk-based, the desserts are naturally sweetened by jaggery/honey. Honey is the only animal by-product on a menu that boasts fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, seeds and such.
The cold soup, the tender coconut water (cream) and avocado gazpacho arrives next, light, creamy and white. A mix of white and green, a lone spinach leaf perched on it and herbs of varying shades of green add colour. It is light and flavourful, the heady flavours of the herbs hit with the first spoon. The recipes and the dishes are the result of months of R&D.
“The nuances of flavour (sweet, sour, tangy, spicy), texture, taste and after taste...I kept all these in mind while making the dishes. These are the flavours our palates are used to and I have used ingredients that mimic those the natural way. The recipes are no secret either and I am willing to teach anybody who is interested.” By the way faux biriyani and burgers to figure on the menu, a few among the many ‘recipes’ Eldho has developed.
The assorted vegetables seem to be the least complex and the dip is actually cashew paste and lime juice. The ‘tacos’ - lettuce with a ‘filling’ of veggies is a nice tango of flavours and textures. The fare looks beautiful. “Isn’t food found in nature beautiful? A pretty flower that attracts bees or a yellow mango that attracts birds.”
The big pesticide question looms in the background. The produce, he says, is sourced from his sustainable farms and other similar places. “How can you be so sure about the organic label? Use of so-called organic pesticides can be counter productive.”
The meal is filling and the conversation thought provoking. Will we convert? That’s for another day.
