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Till some years back, tropical tuber Kappa (tapioca) used to be the staple food
of the poorest of poor in Kerala but all of a sudden it is the favourite
delicacy of the elite. As an inevitable consequence, Kappa has become
unaffordable to the poor because its price has gone up at least by four times.
Till some years ago, the neo-rich had to visit the toddy shops to eat some Kappa
and Meen (fish curry) in their moments of irresistible nostalgia bred by
memories of the days of starvation. Toddy shops were the only places where the
“delicacy” was available apart from the homes of the poor then.
Kappa-Meen is served as high-value ethnic food item these days even in the
luxury hotels of Kochi and its suburbs. “We introduced it here during the last
Christmas holidays. The guests’ response was not enthusiastic then but the
situation has changed. We are now selling about 100 kilos of prepared Kappa with
Meen a day now,” says Francis, foods manager of a four-star hotel in Kochi city.
Farm-fresh Kappa was selling at Rs 6 a kilo four years ago almost everywhere in
Kerala but a kilo of the raw tuber now costs anything between Rs 16 and Rs 22 in
the main towns and cities. “The price rise is partly due to Kappa’s
transformation into an elite food and partly due to the fall in cultivation,”
Francis says.
The other side of this tapioca revolution is that the poor is left with no
choice in food. They are now dependent on the Rs 2-a-kilo inferior quality rice
supplied through the public distribution system. But this supply is limited and
available only to families holding BPL ration cards.
“Till some five years ago, we used to have Kappa with fish curry at least once a
day, which helped us save at least a kilo of rice. Then Kappa used to cost less
than Rs 6. Now a kilo of average quality rice costs Rs 24 while the cost of
Kappa is Rs 20 a kilo. What should we eat?” asks Roymon, a father of three,
living in a shack in a Kochi slum.
Though Kappa delicacies in Kerala are not as varied as in its place of origin
Brazil, hotels in God’s Own Country serve a good number of tapioca items. The
hottest item in star hotels is Kappa Kuzhachathu (tapioca cooked and mashed)
with fish curry. Demand is high for items like Kappa Puzhukku (cooked pieces)
also.
However, prices are prohibitively high in star hotels for the new-found “ethnic
delicacy”. Star hotels charge up to Rs 80 per a 200-gm unit of cooked Kappa and
normal fish curry could cost as high as Rs 300 depending on the fish. “Nobody
considers Kappa as a poor man’s food these days. It has got established as an
elite delicacy,” Francis says.
He is not wrong. Vegetable vendors in Ernakulam general market say that they are
getting a large number of orders, especially on weekends, from Kochi’s elite
colonies. “It is as though Kappa has suddenly become a status symbol,” says
Ramakrishnan, a vegetable merchant in Ernakulam market.
Recipe of Kappa
Recipe of Fish curry
Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com |
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