cooked up

Here is what the trolls are saying and why they are wrong

Troll Attack 1. Paneer is “not Malabar”, only chicken, or fish or beef is



This is wrong,

Chicken Tikka Masala

Troll Attack 2. ‘Malabar Paneer’ represents an imposition of north Indian culture on the south

This is again wrong because

Troll Attack 3. That ‘Malabar Paneer’ somehow pushes the Hindu-right’s agenda



This argument is completely irrelevant

Can you imagine being attacked for the simple act of cooking a new dish? That is exactly what happened to the well-known chef Sanjeev Kapoor when he tweeted about a new dish he had- ‘ Malabar Paneer ’ - which added a new twist to traditional Malabar cuisine.Instead of seeing the dish as the experiment in fusion cuisine that it is, the trolls are attacking him for what they see as an unforgivable violation of tradition.The first line of attack is that the new dish, owing to its main ingredient paneer, is not part of Malabari culture. The trolls argue that Malabar dishes must have chicken, fish or beef.because cultures and cuisines always keep changing and are never static. All food has emerged through experimentation, creativity and fusion. For example, Chinese food in India is Indianised and original Chinese food does not taste anything like what we mostly get in India. Should the Chinese be upset with us Indians for localising their cuisine? Let’s, for example, look at the British claim to(CTM) as their creation. In 2001, then-British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook announced in a speech that CTM was a “true British national dish”. It was claimed that it was first invented in a Scottish Indian restaurant in Glasgow as far back 1971. Has anyone gone and challenged the British that they can’t claim it as their own?Let us get this right, there cannot be any bar on fusing together different cuisines to create new kinds of dishes. Blaming someone for doing so impinges on their freedom of choice to make and eat what they want. Why must we consume food only in the manner in which it has been prescribed in the past? As citizens of the world’s largest democracy, we are free to make our choices on everything, and so it is on food. There cannot be any restrictions on creative freedom, and creating experimental new cuisine by replacing chicken, beef or fish with paneer is part of that. In fact, some of the most popular restaurants in the world thrive on making available fusion cuisine to their patrons.Kapoor is not forcing anyone to adopt this dish or to change their food habits. He is not asking anyone to become vegetarian or to give up meat, beef or chicken. There is no compulsion on anyone to eat only ‘Malabar Paneer’. It is just one more choice of food among the many that already exist and everyone is free to choose what they likeAlso, while paneer might be considered a staple in some parts of north India, it does not define north Indian cuisine - just like dosa or idli does not sum up the entirety of south Indian food. If at all, Dosa or Idli are tiffin/snack items and NOT South Indian meals. Trolls are wrongly politicising gastronomy. Relax, its just food - eat it or leave it.as it somehow relates food with the essence of a religion. It is ridiculous to compress Hinduism down to just vegetarianism alone. In fact, as the census data shows, 70% of Indians are non-vegetarians . And since almost 80% of Indians are Hindus, it stands to reason that more Hindus are non-vegetarian than they are vegetarian.Also, will using Oil instead of Ghee, for example, make the food less vegetarian and less Hindu? Surely not!It is ignorant to equate a single food item as the essential marker of a regional or religious identity.