KOCHI, SEPT 2: Onam flavour is becoming more culinary than flowery, with more and more Malayalis substituting quick-fixes or hotel menus for the traditional Onam lunch, served by the toiling housewife.With housewives turning working women and servants becoming scarce as a class, elaborate Onam lunches are more a part of nostalgia. Those who do celebrate it do so, clad in Western or North-Indian attire, rather than the traditional Kerala couture, in hotels or at home with pre-cooked curries like kalans and payasams, marketed by enterprising housewives capitalising on a social lacuna.A lacuna that is avidly exploited by hotels across Kerala. Kochi is no exception. Especially now when Onam merges seamlessly with the onset of the tourist season, when tourists flock to God's Own Land to experience Onam in the designer-made floral carpets fabricated with exported flowers from across the border. And eating traditional lunches spread on banana leaves by imaginative hotels or as buffets in messyplates.Who comes to savour such typical Kerala delicacies? Most hoteliers admit that increasingly Malayalis are turning to hotel meals on Onam day, especially when the number is large. Or when a couple is old and deserted by NRI offsprings.Onam has obviously shed communal trappings to emerge as a regional festival for the Malayali.``Many Christians come to celebrate Onam by having lunches in hotels. Besides, people like Gujarathis who have settled in Kerala also come to hotels to savour the flavour of Onam,'' said many hoteliers.Most hotels in town have advertised an elaborate culinary bonanza, which cannot only activate the taste buds but also the springs of nostalgia, with all the cherished Onam delicacies, which include not only the inevitable payasams.Most hotels have Onam sadya on Onam day, apart from Onam lunches from yesterday onwards.The Taj Residency serves its Onam lunch in its exquisite Bubble Restaurant, charging Rs 125 per head. ``It is a buffet. Banana leaves arenot practical,'' says general manager Ravi Pillai. Serving two payasams, like the palada and parippu. The Taj Malabar charges Rs 200.The Abad Plaza spreads the Onam lunch on September 3 and 4 in its Kadaloram Restaurant, charging Rs 200 for a buffet lunch which has non-vegetarian fare as well.The Raj Mahal charges only Rs 125 and its Onam has started from yesterday.Cochin Tower charges Rs 120 per head serving 15 vegetable items apart from two payasams. Palada prathaman appears to have become the inevitable Kochi hotel's Onam staple.Sealord serves Onam lunch for four days from September 3 to 6 charging just Rs 60 excluding tax.``We have already begun bookings,'' Sealord sources said, confirming that an Onam clientele does exist.The Grand Hotel spreads not only vegetarian but also a non-vegetarian fare for Onam, with the unique Kerala menu. Like meen pattichathu and fried chicken along with two payasams. The charge is Rs 175 per head.TheBharat Hotel is all-vegetarian charging Rs 125 for Onam lunch on September 3, 4 and 5.The Casino has shown more imagination, celebrating its Onam after the Onam through Chamayam at its Durbar Hall on September 8 and 9, serving vegetarian and non-vegetarian cuisine. Topped by cultural dessert like Mohiniyattom and Kaikottikali.The International Hotel charges Rs 175 for Onam lunch which began from August 26. The lunch may be buffet but the decor is Kerala style and the food is served in snake-boat-like dishes.The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) not only serves Onam lunch on Onam day in its magnificent Bolghatty Palace Hotel at Rs 100 per head but also comes to the rescue of Onam revellers by giving them packed payasams.
