When the goodies came in thookus

The good old days when mysorepak and murukkus came on cycles and every one snacked on street food

The people of Coimbatore have always loved good food and this has been part of our culinary history. The 60s and 70s were times when good quality food and snacks were sold by street vendors. Old Coimbatoreans remember some of them as they carried food in the ubiquitous thookkus ( metal buckets with a lid ) and sold them to students, passers by, traders and homemakers. It was not at all unusual to see traders taking small parcels of tasty stuff home for the families.

There was one Mysorepak Manickkam in the old town area who used to sell Mysorepak and khus khus halwa packed in butter paper. His 11 a.m visits were eagerly anticipated by the kids enjoying their weekends with their siblings, cousins and friends. Manickkam’s Aluminium Thookku would also contain mixture, murukku and oattu pakkoda. The Mysorepak was made with ghee in abundance and lined up in a circular manner inside the container, like an amphitheatre.

Another topi wearing North Indian gentleman used to vend flattened chana mixture and mouth-watering soan papdi. He used to call out in Hindi and normally came after sunset. He carried a hurricane lamp so that his customers could see his food better. People used to crowd around his cycle with t heir own containers to by his wares.

A bronze thooku vendor announced his arrival with a loud ‘thenga manga pattani sundal’ at the VOC park grounds and Race course. He would put the sundal into thin paper cones he made. The tasty thenga manga pattani sundal is yet to find a parallel today.

There were several ladies who made a living out of selling the vadagams they made at home. Sometimes they used to sell the semi-dried vadagams which were a delicacy by themselves. They would roll up appalam dough into a shape resembling the cork of a wine bottle, and this snack was very popular.

The garam pori vendors were a regular feature too. One would eat with watering eyes pori or puffed rice mixed with spicy beetroot ,carrot and diced onions and finely ground chillies. Then there was the rich Karur paal kova and doodh pedas which were amongst the tastiest in the world. They used to be packed in cellophane and sold in quarter kilogram parcels.

One akka brought thirattu paal made out of the new milk of a cow that had just delivered a calf. Looking back, carry bags and plastics were virtually absent and preservatives or colours were not used at all. Therefore people who consumed them regularly continued to remain healthy.

Rajesh is passionate about his city and is always looking for ways of documenting its history