After idli gets 'connected' to US polls, Shashi Tharoor asks if roti could have stirred such a row

At least now, @edanderson101, you know idlis aren't boring, said Tharoor

anderson-tharoor-idligate Edward Anderson’s take on Twitter prompted a sharp response from Shashi Tharoor | via Twitter; PTI

A seemingly innocuous comment by Edward Anderson, a History lecturer from Northumbria University, on idli continues to attract brickbats on social media. After the BBC came out with a news report with the headline 'Row over 'insult' to Indian dish Kamala Harris likes', Anderson, in a tweet, said “Fantastic. My stupid idli comment has now been connected - ever so tenuously - to the US election. For the record: I love Indian food... and especially south Indian food! (Just not idlis).”

Anderson, who appears to have enraged the entire south Indian diaspora and idli loving Indians everywhere with his comment “Idli are the most boring things in the world,” has been quoted by the BBC as saying that he's had "many idlis in his life mainly in India—I've spent a lot of time there over the years and my wife is from Kerala. Idlis regularly feature at breakfast with the in-laws".

While many on social media, including Shashi Tharoor, tried to school Anderson about idli and the right way to have it for breakfast—try it with a plate of steaming idlis, accompanied by coconut chutney with a garnish of mustard seeds, a red-chilli-and-onion samandi & some molagapodi w/melted ghee. If the idli batter has been fermented right, it’s the closest thing to heaven on this earth, wrote Tharoor, on Twitter—Anderson said he is still not impressed by idli. "I agree that these accompaniments are great… it's just idlis aren't the best vehicle for them! Dosa and vada and appam are far superior," he was quoted by BBC as saying.

After Anderson took to Twitter to express his displeasure over the the BBC article that connected his idli comment with Kamala Harris, Tharoor reacted saying, “at least now you know idlis aren't boring.”

Taking it a notch further, Tharoor asked would a mere roti or a Yorkshire pudding have stirred up such a viral row on social media.

“At least now, @edanderson101, you know idlis aren't boring! Would a mere roti have stirred up such a viral row on social media? Let alone a Yorkshire pudding?,” Tharoor tweeted.

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