‘How dare you take off pazham pori’: IRCTC restores Kerala snacks on train menus

Many took to Twitter to voice their protests against the “North-Indian menu” being served on trains by IRCTC.

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For many Keralites, a train journey isn't complete without the delectable pazham pori. So when the popular snack item disappeared from the revised food menu on trains, many users took to social media to voice their indignance.

The new IRCTC food menu came into effect from November 2019. The IRCTC did away with a-la-carte meals that were usually sold on trains but permitted the sale of a-la-carte snack items like samosa, pakoda, etc. According to a circular dated November 14, 2019, the items that were listed as the snack items to be provided during evening tea were dry samosa, dry kachori, mathri, masala sticks.

After an Onmanorama report stated that popular Kerala snacks were taken off the menu, several Malayalis took to Twitter to voice their protests against the “North-Indian menu” now being served on trains.

Though the menu change took place in November, the news circulated again this week after an article in The Week, quoting an Onmanorama report, went viral.

Foods like Appam & Egg curry, Porotta, Dosa, Puttu, Pazhampori & Bhaji have been removed from Menu at railway stations in Kerala.



Instead Indian Railways has added Rajma chawal, Chhole bhature, Pav bhaji & Khichdi to the Menu.



WTH is this? @PiyushGoyal https://t.co/TxHvdjoLzF — Advaid (@Advaidism) January 20, 2020

macha how can you hate pazhampori it was my staple on the train journey to Thiruvananthapuram as a kid



you will pay dearly for this https://t.co/6zyFg78Nmw — sid won't stop resisting// acab (@sidnotsriram) January 21, 2020

Cultural Fascism, yes. But who benefits? Companies in Western Europe & US made money off the Holocaust. Have IRCTC contracts been given to someone more familiar with cooking these dishes? https://t.co/h4cpEawiqT — Deepu (@deepusebastian) January 21, 2020

Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden on Monday also shot off a letter to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, asking that the local delicacies be brought back to the menu.

“Some dishes which are very important to Malayalees for breakfast, such as appam, egg curry, porotta, dosa, chapatti, steam cake (Puttu) were excluded along with snacks such as banana fry (pazham pori), Baji ilayada, kozhukkatta, unniyappam, neyyappam, modakkam/sukhiyan etc. Soft drinks such as lime water also excluded,” Hibi wrote in his letter.

"Malayalis are discriminated in trains and railway refreshment rooms (on the basis of) food, which is the right of every passenger," he added.

On Tuesday, IRCTC replied to many users with this text:

“In view of the demand from passengers and representations received, IRCTC has fully authorised its local offices in zones and regions to bring more items as per the local taste and regional preferences within one week as snack meals.”

The IRCTC in a few other tweets, added, “It is further informed all the food items served earlier will be restored.”