Responding to the controversy on the vegetarian menu at the Kerala School Kalolsavam, Minister of General Education and Labour V Sivankutty said that from next year onwards, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items will be served at the event. “The government has nothing against any kind of food. But this is about arranging food for over 20,000 students, so adequate precautions must be taken. Even otherwise, we are familiar with our children developing health problems after consuming food from outside our homes,” Sivankutty told the media.
The Kerala School Kalolsavam is an annual cultural fest organised by the Kerala government, featuring competitions for high school and higher secondary school students in the state. The first edition of the fest was held in 1956. Since then, the government has been conducting it annually. This year, the Kalolsavam is being held at Kozhikode.
For almost 15 years, veteran culinary expert and chef Pazhayidom Mohanan Namboothiri has been catering for the school festival. Many had initially raised questions about the authenticity of a chef from Kottayam helming the festival food preparations at Kozhikode. Kozhikode is a city that is famous for its food, offering a variety of authentic flavours and dishes.
Additionally, Kerala is a state where a majority of the population consume non-vegetarian food. There has been criticism on social media about appointing Pazhayidom, an upper-caste chef, for the catering of the Kalolsavam, alleging that this exposes the double standard of the CPI(M) government and reinforces Brahminical elitism in food consumption. However, responding to the discourse, Ashokan Charuvil, general secretary of the Purokamana Kala Sahithya Sangham, noted on Facebook that a Brahmin who prepares food is the product of the social renaissance of Kerala.
“Those who allege considerations regarding the caste of the main chef must reflect on why they have suddenly felt the need to bring this up, despite the fact that for the last 60 years, the same kind of food has been served,” Minister Sivankuty said. “People who try to politicise the Kalolsavam had followed the same menu while their respective parties were in power as well. Why is this a problem now? It is just their jealousy of the event being conducted smoothly. They want to disrupt it in some way,” he added.
“The government had earlier taken a stand when certain non-vegetarian food items were banned. We have nothing against any kind of dietary preferences, this is only a question of safety,” Sivankutty said, referencing the Left government’s opposition to a move to ban beef in the country. The Minister said that the only concern was regarding the health of the students consuming non-vegetarian food. “Many school kids are not used to eating non-vegetarian food outside of their homes. We don’t want any health issues,” he said.