Veg or non-veg? Debate on Kerala Youth Festival menu rages on social media

Should non-vegetarian dishes be included in the menu of the state school art festival?
That is the raging question being asked now on social media platforms after the Kerala School Arts Festival got underway in northern Kozhikode.

Kozhikode is popularly known as the culinary capital of the southern state.

Adding spice to the controversy, some netizens even alleged “brahmanical hegemony” at  the kitchen of the art festival of children, billed as Asia’s biggest cultural event at the school level. They gave the example of eminent culinary expert Pazhayidam Mohanan Namboothiri helming the catering team.

State general education minister V Sivankutty dismissed the charges and said the debate was totally “unwanted”.

For decades, lip-smacking vegetarian delicacies have been served among participating children, their teachers, parents and media personnel at the food pavilions of the annual gala, known for its massive participation of children.

Like many other years, Mohanan Namboothiri and his team are preparing and serving dishes to thousands of people every day at the food pavilions of the festival. However, some netizens questioned the years-long practice of serving only vegetarian delicacies during the festival, triggering widespread debate in and outside social media platforms.

Some even alleged that there is a “brahmanical hegemony” in the kitchen of the art festival and demanded that it should be ended and all kinds of food be served in its pavilions.
A Facebook user, known for his alleged Left liberal views, charged that the “vegetarian only” menu in the festival was part of “vegetarian fundamentalism” and a “reflection of caste belief”.

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Another person, in his FB post, lamented that the presence of Brahmins in the kitchens of art festivals was the commemoration of the surrender of renaissance and democratic values at the feet of brahmanism.

One netizen wanted all kinds of food, including non-vegetarian dishes, to be served in such festivals organised by the government. However, several FB users harshly criticised the debate as an attempt to give religious colour to food and to create division in the society.

Reacting to the criticism and the social media debate, Mohanan Namboothiri said the vegetarian dishes were not his choice but he was acting as directed by the government.
“It is up to the government to decide whether non-vegetarian dishes should also be included in the menu. I have a good team who are experts in preparing non-vegetarian delicacies as well. What I am doing is the overall monitoring of their work,” he said.

However, he said there were several technical issues with preparing and serving non-vegetarian dishes in an event like a youth festival, where the number of people to be fed could not be ascertained exactly.

Citing the example of the state sports festival, he said non-vegetarian dishes are served in the event but it was not practical in the case of youth festivals. “In sports festivals, there might not be much difference in the number of expected crowds. But, in the case of youth festivals, the number of people arriving at the food pavilion cannot be exactly calculated in advance,” he said.

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Today, the number of participants as per the figures was around 9,000 but the total number of people who had food in the pavilions was over 20,000, Namboothiri explained.
When asked about the criticism of Brahmanical hegemony, he said those who gave the lowest quotation would get the contract for serving food at the festival.

Minister Sivankutty, however, said the state government had no adamant stand that non-vegetarian delicacies should not be served at the state youth festival. But, there are practical issues of preparing huge quantities of non-vegetarian dishes to serve such a massive number of people, he said.

He also pointed out to the risk of serving non-vegetarian food to children as it may not be good for everyone alike. “I really wanted to serve them mouth-watering biriyani. Not this time, but we can surely expect this next year,” the minister added.

Rejecting the criticism of brahmanical dominance, he also said no one has raised this in the last 60 editions of the art festival though only vegetarian food was served in all these years. “Such a debate is unwanted,” the minister said.

Besides breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacks and tea and desserts are also provided at the food pavillions of the youth festival, sources said. While appam-stew, idli-sambar and so on are served for breakfast, the traditional spread for lunch includes rice, sambar, thoran, kichadi, masala curry, buttermilk and so on, sources said. The dessert menu includes varieties of payasam (a sweet).

The 61st edition of the Kerala School Arts Festival was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday.