Kerala tourism showcases Ayurveda inspired wellness cuisine

Can health food be tasty and designer, and ordered off a fine dine menu? Kerala Tourism has the answer Kerala Travel Mart had options on offer

A plateful of kuruva rice (red rice) with agathi cheera (vegetable hummingbird) flower, millet chapatis, accompaniments made with banana stem and blossom, green gram, jackfruit seeds, thazhuthama (hogweed), horse gram, papaya, mango and a bamboo rice dessert had diners curious and also eating out of their hands in Kochi recently.

“People don’t know that Ayurveda food is not only healthy, but also tasty. It was important to familiarise people with this aspect,” says Subhash C Bose, general manager of Somatheeram Ayurveda Group, Kerala’s pioneering Ayurveda resort in Thiruvananthapuram, founded in 1985.  He is talking about the Ayurveda food counter set up by them, at the recently concluded Kerala Travel Mart (May 5-8) in Kochi.

Simultaneously, in the stylish settings of the Brunton Boatyard in Fort Kochi, 250 delegates were treated, at their culmination dinner to conscious cuisine created by CGH Earth, a Kochi-headquartered Responsible Travel and healthcare group.

At the event, Ayurveda food and cuisine inspired by Ayurveda were showcased to a global clientele along with other new products, like the Champion Boatrace League and Keravan Kerala: Caravan tourism in the State.

“Food is medicine,” said diners after savouring the plated meal. Prepared by four chefs of the Thiruvananthapuram-based group, these proofs of the flavourful side of Ayurveda food was served over three days, to almost 1,500 diners. 

“When we launched three decades ago, specific diets were prescribed for guests taking medical treatment or holidaying. In the 1990s we elevated it to the level of a cuisine that can be ordered off a menu, and brought it on to our restaurant menu. Now we have appetisers, starters, main course, accompaniments, desserts and beverages all inspired by Ayurvedic ingredients, using vegetables, fruits, herbs, leaves and oils,” says Bose.

Dr Seena Rajendran, Chief Medical Officer of the organisation explains that in the 1990s a team of doctors, chefs and nutritionists researched extensively with locally grown vegetables, spices and created a menu of 260 dishes based on the three body humors: vata (wind), pitta (bile), kapha (phlegm). They then created dishes beneficial for each body type and constitution. “The restaurant menu is labeled thus,” she says.