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Serving the Udupi culture on a platterAuthor: Aprajita Ghildiyal, Varsha Parthasarthy and Subas hini Vijayakumar

Published Date: Jun 10, 2013 8:26 AM

Last Updated: Jun 10, 2013 8:29 AM

Once upon a time they took their cuisine global; the Udupi Kannadigas have a dominant presence, despite a dip inthe popularity of the food

Here lies the answer for all those who wonder how the Udupi community has aways been synonymous with food to an extent that Udupi Hotel has

become a brand name. It is believed that people from Udupi served food to the wounded soldiers of the Kurukshetra war and thus, their chief deity Lord

Krishna bless ed them with a flair to cook.

Udupi cuisine evolved over the years, drawing inspiration from social, cultural, geographical and religious factors. Udupi Krishna temple has been

serving free meal to thousands of devotees every day for centuries together and this has influenced Udupi food heavily. Ram Bhat, managing director,

Mathsya Restaurant, Egmore says, Saint Madhvacharya propagated the Dvaitaphilosophy according to which god is different from mortals; we must

surrender completely to him. So,when you cook for the Lord, you cook the best for him. The meal, which is served daily by the Udupi Krishna Temple

for its devotees is a five course meal. It consists of five s weets interspread with kaaram, three types of palya (vegetable preparations) cooked,

sauteed and raw sprouts and greens, three types of kosambaris (salads), rice varieties, two types of sambhar, one with coconut and one without,

followed by two types of payasams.

There was a time when Udupians were ruling the roost of hotels in India, especially in the South, making an im pact globally. But, the situation seem s to

have changed. Most of the hotels in Chennai that are run by Udupians do not prefer to serve Udupi food. People who come to us prefer eating spicy

food and are not interested in experimenting with Udupi food which has certain preparations that taste sweeter than its Tamilian counterparts, says B

Shamu, kitchen supervisorat Hotel Raj Bhavan, Nungambakkam which is owned by an Udupian.

After college I chose to join my fathers business, I did not try introducing Udupi cuisine and preferred sticking to Tamilian menu. I came to Chennai

when I was five years old and therefore I am more of a Tamilian than an Udupian,recounts P Venkata Ramana Upadhya, proprietor, Welcome Hotel. He

also adds that running a hotel is a 24-hour job where managing workers becomes very difficult. This, according to him, is the reason for the closing

down of mos t establishm ents which were started by the younger generation, which has now m oved on to other professions. They are today broadly

classi fied into four categories of vocations doctors, hoteliers, auditors and engineers. As Shamu puts it, with todays generation being academically

oriented, he wouldnt want his children to toe his line.

Today, very few hotels serve authentic Udupi food. Bhat explains, Udupi cuisine is cumbersome to cook. It is unfortunate that people are ready to

splurge m oney on pastas and cappuccinos but do not want to spend even around Rs 30 to Rs 40 for a filter coffee. He adds that Mathsya offers Udupi

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