Food
Eating in Kerala: what to order
Appam and stew, karimeen from the backwaters, Thalassery biryani, and why the toddy shop is really about the food.
Kerala food is coconut, rice, black pepper and fish, and it changes noticeably as you move along the coast. Ordering well is mostly a matter of knowing what to ask for.
Breakfast
- Appam with vegetable or chicken stew. A soft fermented rice pancake, lacy at the edges, thick in the middle.
- Puttu with kadala curry: steamed rice and coconut with black chickpeas.
- Idiyappam, string hoppers, usually with coconut milk.
Fish
Karimeen, the pearl spot, is the backwater fish. Ask for it fried in masala rather than in a curry the first time. Alleppey fish curry uses raw mango and coconut and is sharper than the red coastal curries. On the coast, ask what came in that morning instead of choosing from the menu.
The two things everybody eats
Kerala parotta with beef fry is the most-eaten plate in the state, and it is roadside food rather than restaurant food. Malabar biryani from Thalassery uses short-grain kaima rice and is milder and more fragrant than the Hyderabadi version. Same name, different dish.
Sadya
A vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf, twenty-odd items in a set order, eaten with the right hand. Standard at Onam and at weddings, and available at some restaurants year-round. Say yes if it is offered.
Toddy shops
Toddy is fermented palm sap. The reason to go to a toddy shop is the food that comes with it — fish steamed in banana leaf, duck roast, clams — cooked spicier than anywhere else, because the toddy is meant to cut through it.
If you have requirements
- Halal food is straightforward across Kerala and particularly easy in Kochi and along the Malabar coast, where most restaurants are halal.
- Vegetarian eating is easy everywhere, and sadya is entirely vegetarian.
- Jain and no-onion-no-garlic requests are understood in tourist areas, but tell your driver in the morning rather than the restaurant at eight.
Tell us dietary requirements when you enquire rather than on arrival. It changes which restaurants a driver stops at, and that is much easier to plan than to fix.