THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:As the campaign against ‘maida’ gains momentum, it not only spreads awareness about a healthy food habit, but also has introduced a new dish to our diet.
Yes! Wheat ‘parotta’ is now a fad among the health conscious people in the city. As most foodies cannot easily resist the temptation to eat parotta, it has taken a brand new avatar in wheat. City hotels, one after the other, are adding wheat parotta to their menu as its sales are rising day by day.
Ummer, who works at Salwa Dine, Vellayambalam, says the hotel started selling wheat parottas two months ago. “More wheat parottas are now being sold here than maida parottas. Because people mostly switch to wheat parotta owing to health reasons, we do not add much Dalda or oil to it. Our other branch in the city too is selling wheat parotta,” he says. The hotel charges ` 8 for a wheat parotta, while it is ` 6 for a maida parotta.
A number of hotels in the city are now offering wheat parotta, mostly in the evening. Many hotels are displaying a board which says, ‘Wheat parottas available.’
“When served hot, wheat parotta is more delicious than maida parotta,” says Arun Gopan, a techie. Arun finds the wheat parotta in hotel Buraq very delicious.
While most other hotels prepare wheat parotta on demand, it is the major food item at Hotel Al-Hassan in Attakulangara.
Wheat parottas made a foray into the city hotels after the media launched a campaign against the alleged harmful effects of maida. Use of maida was touted as the reason for the rising diabetic cases in the State. Many declared that they were quitting the habit of eating maida. The state even has a ‘Maida Varjana Samithi’ (Forum against maida). However, some foodies say the time has not yet come to bid adieu to maida parotta, and that it would remain a favourite food of Malayalis.