Onam, Kerala’s most important festival, is celebrated as a harvest festival throughout the state. But just about every Malayalee knows of the occasion’s moorings in a time in distant history regarded as Kerala’s golden era. This era of prosperity and peace was overseen by the wise and generous King Mahabali, who was much loved by his people. Legend has it that his popularity disturbed the gods so much, they approached Vishnu with their grievance.

One day, Vishnu took the guise of a dwarf and counting on the ruler’s generosity, requested three paces of land from the King. No sooner ...

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Outside India, knowledge of Indian food only goes as far as chicken tikka masala and to most Indians it only goes as far as their own traditions. With Independence day at hand, it's time to explore the country's many regional cuisines and the ITC-Welcomgroup has organised Independence Day festivals around this. But before that, a quick recce -

First to the East – West Bengal stands out for its iconic sweets such as the cottage cheese-based sandesh and cham cham . Fish enjoys quite a fan-following and one of the most prized fish ...

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A mould by any other name would be given raw treatment at the hands of humans. Mushrooms however have this way of dodging classification and winging into the realms of fantasy. It is the matter of much-loved children’s stories and forms the cosy backdrop to bed time tales populated with dwarves, elves, fairies and the stuff of dreamland.

One of the most commonly consumed mushrooms in the world is the white button mushroom, a favourite addition to soups and salads, that’s widely cultivated and available in groceries. I’d venture to suggest that Chinese cuisine would suffer a major ...

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We just never seem to tire of our love affair with this robust 18th century food of peasants.

And guess what? It apparently had the same effect on King Ferdinand I of Naples (1751–1825). The king, legend has it, took an instant liking to this zesty food on one of his trips through the city and he expressed a desire to have it included in the royal menu.

His wife, however, forbade him from having anything to do with the pizza, which, as with most of us, did nothing to deter the king from partaking of this delectable indulgence. One day when the coast was clear, he put ...

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Wholesome yet light, the very sight of cheesecakes holds out the promise of flat-out delight. A promise that we all know is delivered by its comforting taste and texture. But who came up with the idea of putting cheese into a cake in the first place? Turns out it’s the regular suspects of pioneering – the ancient Greeks. In fact the cheesecake turned out to be pretty popular with the inhabitants of that land. This did not escape the attention of the Romans and when they took over Greece, they also took charge of this enviable recipe with understandable zeal. The Romans had two versions of the ...

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