Is it economics that nudges regional restaurants in tourist hubs to play safe, and curate generic, uninspiring menus? Aren’t they destroying their own local culinary heritage in the process?

Restaurants in many of Kerala’s tourist hubs prefer to offer safe, predictable menus for better footfalls from across India. Pic/Fiona Fernandez

We had barely settled at our table in a restaurant located in a sea-facing boutique hotel in central Kerala when we were greeted by the familiar tune of Saagar kinaare, the classic hit from the Ramesh Sippy film Saagar. Imagining that the Bollywood obsession was a one-off interlude, I began to pore over the menu to decide on the fish variety I wanted to savour, caught fresh and only a few hours earlier from the warm waters of the Arabian Sea. The Hindi film music parade continued on loop; the playlist was a mixed affair of 1980s and 90s hits [and duds too]. I was expecting Malayalam and Tamil movie tracks as the permanent background score but this Bollywood fix seemed a bit out of place. Little did I realise that the music was a prelude to the contents of the menu.

To my horror, I spotted all kinds of food items that had no business being served in an authentic Keralite restaurant. From Butter Chicken to Chowmein, Dal Makhni and Tomato Shorba, it looked like a mishmash that........

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