Nostalgia means different things to different people but at the core of it lies memories that always bring a smile to your face.
Painting Preservation
The Conservation Laboratory at The City Palace Museum, Udaipur is seeing a team working on ‘Paintings on paper’. The project that the conservators are currently working has restored about 22 paintings to date. The conservation team has two consultant conservators Saloni Ghuwalewala and S. Girikumar and three full-time conservators – Anuja Mukherjee, Bhasha Shah and P.M. Vasundhara. The conservation process itself varies with each painting as each one that enters the lab has its own set of problems.
Food Nostalgia
Among the newest restaurants opened in Bengaluru, Kappa Chakka Kandhari is all about food with a healthy dose of nostalgia. The Kerala regional food served here is after three ingredients unique to Kerala, tapioca (Kappa), jackfruit (Chakka) and bird’s eye chilli (Kandhari). Interestingly, the entire menu has been designed around recipes collected from homes. Paying homage to the simple food cooked by their mothers and as an ode to memories of a slower time, founders Chef Regi Mathew, John Paul and Augustine Kuria will take you on a trip down memory lane. From the northern Malabar cuisine, cuisine from toddy shops and Syrian Christian and Travancore cuisines, the menu is all about creating a nostalgic gourmet experience. This is where the charm of home-cooked food is recreated for a new generation after three years of working sampling food at over 265 homes and 70 toddy shops. Cherished family recipes are on the menu as well. “The food you eat as a child is amongst the strongest memories you have. The visual and taste of the food is something that can never be forgotten and therein lies the nostalgia of food. Likewise, when you eat a dish that you ate as a child it always comes with a memory and it is mostly a story. Maybe you had it on a special occasion, or it was made at someone’s house. Therefore, it is important to bring back food that we ate in the past as it not just about nostalgia but also bring back many happy memories. It also brings forth the culinary heritage of our cuisine. The moment you recreate this you are making it relevant to the new generation as well,” says Chef Regi Mathew.
When you are here sample the Kappa Vevichathu, boiled tapioca, mashed with crushed bird’s eye chillies and coconut, Pazham Nanachathu made with sun-dried Elaichi bananas tossed with shredded coconut and drizzled with paani that is made from slow-reduced sap of the toddy palm and Chakka Vevichathu made with boiled jackfruit, freshly ground spices and grated coconut. The menu is full of tradition and the warmth that can come from a mother and her love – this is food that will make you smile.
Read all about it in The New Indian Express dated April 26, 2020 here:
