Celebrating the humble idli

For many Indians, idli may only be the bland cousin of dosa. Down south, however, for some one thousand years, the rice-lentil pudding has been the favourite early-morning carb booster and protein supplement.

It is therefore natural that in the heartland of the idli, the idea of celebrating March 30 as World Idli Day has caught on within a few years. Eniyavan, an idli-only caterer, was among the first to moot the idea.

On Friday, many ordered varities of idlies through the day, say restaurateurs. Hotel Ambassador Pallava served more than 30 different idlis including elaneer idli, paneer idli, and palapazha idli. General manager Venkat Reddy said, “On an average, we serve idlis to 70 persons a day. On Friday, however, we nearly sold out [all special varieties of idlis] by the end of the day.” Vasantha Bhavan had 50 varieties, including those made from rava and millets.

Humble and popular

Though south Indians claim the humble idli as their own, some historians believe it came via the sea trade route from south-east Asia — a maritime legacy of the Cholas.

Today, the idli has become the most popular and, at the same time, healthy, food item in the region. M. Ravi of the Chennai Hotels Association said among all dishes in any restaurant in the city, idlis always come first in terms of sales. Some companies made a bulk order of idlis for their employees on Friday. The Idli Factory sold nearly 2,000 additional idlis because they had orders from corporates wanting to treat their employees. Murugan Idli Shop in T. Nagar too saw a spurt in sales with 2,500 idlis sold through UberEats alone. Lakshmikant K, chief financial officer, said, “In our T. Nagar branch alone, we served about 2,000 idlis. Our typical daily business is 1,500 a day,” he adds.

Harish Warrier summed up the day with his tweet: “#WorldIdliDay: Idli, as a food, is an emotion of South Indians.”