Try to explain a moron how a sweet tastes like or what is the exact flavour of a spicy delicacy. It is challenging, isn't it? The thing about a palate is that everyone has it, but only a few understand its merit and still a less know what to do with it. It is like being an apprentice in photography. You have inordinate cameras but don't know how to use them, and once you know how, you only listen to your heart. The best thing about [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] is that, its delicacies, in general, revolve around discoveries, aromas and colours. [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] has indeed attracted a great deal of attention of the world because of its culinary specialty to carefully blend different spices and yield the subtle variation in the flavours. For centuries, travellers from all over the world arrived to the coast of Kerala - the Greeks, the Arabs, the Romans, the Jews and later Vasco da Gama, the Europeans... Given the various foreign influences, it is not incredible to think that the Malayali cuisine is a culinary crossbreed, an impeccable fusion of many cultures and palates.
There is no doubt that [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] includes several culinary traditions, both region and religion specific, but there are two things that gives Kerala cuisine an edge over others; its repertoire and undoubtedly coconut. A great emphasis is laid on the ingredients used, the vessels it is cooked in and bizarrely, the nature of fire used. The beauty of the Malayali food is that, it offers a true taste of nature, a perfect amalgamation of the real with the imagined. And so, it is about rice, flavoured by the soil it has grown in, seasonal vegetables carrying morning dew on their skin, fresh from the garden, fish straight from the backwaters, spice that bears within, the fiery heat of the sun... It is about countless flavours - coconut oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, tamarind paste, asafoetida and chillies - each one of which rejoice a special place in the Malayali's palate. One will be surprised to know in how many forms a Malayali consumes coconut - as a thickener, as a paste to add flavour, as a garnish in curries and soups and finally as an oil to be partaken.