Keralites can have appams, pazham pori in trains as IRCTC withdraws new menu

pazham-pori via Facebook

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) faced much backlash after it had decided that popular Kerala dishes like appam and egg curry, porotta, dosa, puttu and kadala curry would no longer be part of its revised menu.

The move had even angered Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden who had said, "You don't give us trains; at least give us pazhampori!" Eden argued he felt strongly about the issue given the perception that Kerala has always received a raw deal from the Railways, particularly on issues such as allocation of new train routes.

According to an Indian Express report, the IRCTC has decided to restore the old menu across the railway stations in Kerala.

The IRCTC, in a tweet tagging MP Eden among others, wrote, “In view of the demand from passengers and representations received, IRCTC has fully authorised it's 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 revised menu had popular north Indian food items like kachori, vegetable pakoda and rajma chawal instead of the local favourites like pazham pori (banana fritters), puttu and unniyappam. While uzhunnu vada and parippu vada were retained, snacks such as pazhampori, bhaji, illayada, kozhukatta, unniappam, neyyappam and sukhiyan were taken off.

People were also upset with the steep hike in food prices. The price for rice meals increased from Rs 35 to Rs 70. Uzhunnu vada and parripu vada, that were available for Rs 8.50, now costs Rs 15. Two vada would cost Rs 30, but two pieces each of aloo bonda, kachori, and samosa would cost you only Rs 20.