After a usual dreary day of work in Kerala, people flock around little wooden carts by the roadside, where the tasty aroma of red meat and freshly-made parotta would be wafting about in the air. The Kerala style parotta is a thick piece of wheat flour (maida) mixed with edible oil, mildly roasted on the pan. But it seems that the days of this delicacy are getting numbered, as hotel owners and customers are starting to realise its health hazards.
“Eatables made of maida appeal to our taste buds, but they don’t go well with our health system. Apart from parotta there are many other eatables in the list of staple food, which is made of maida and often fried. All these should be avoided,” says K Chandran, who owns a restaurant at Perambra in Kozhikode.
Wheat flour, a finely milled and refined wheat, is yellowish in colour, but it is bleached with Benzoyl Peroxide to make it white, after which it is packed off as maida. The mixture is banned in the European Union. Studies have shown that consumption of this type of maida leads to diabetes. “After eating maida, people become prone to kidney stone and heart-related diseases,” says Dr Maya, Assistant Professor of the microbiology department at the Kozhikode Medical College.
Different associations and groups have emerged in the whole of the Malabar region to propagate the dangers of parotta.
“We are planning to spread the campaign to the national level in our next phase,” says Krishnakumar, who is one of the organisers of Maidavarjana Samithi which had spearheaded the campaign in Palakkad district. “Booklet with translation on the harmful effects of consuming maida will be printed and supplied. Mass awareness campaigns will be organised.”
As the campaign gains momentum, a large section of hotel owners are also worried that one of their most popular dishes would be knocked off the menu. “We would lose a major chunk of revenue,” says Praveen, a Kozhikode restaurant owner. “We acknowledge the health issues, but we also require an alternative that comes cheap, and is feasible for us to serve at minimal rates.”