India In 3 Square Miles

The Food of Kerala

A Fusion of Culture

Kerala as it is today was built on food - from the spice ports on the coast, to the spectacular tea plantations of the Western Ghats.

Its culture was enriched by successive waves of migration over the course of thousands of years. Ships from Arabia, Portugal, Holland and Britain, merchants from across the rest of India and Asia - all brought their cultures, religions and culinary influences to this tropical paradise on the southern tip of India.

This cultural fusion helped create the unique and exciting cuisine of Kerala. Its dishes are inspired by the traditions of Tamil, Andhra, Kannada, Goan, Marathi, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Bengali, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Jewish and Portuguese food. And increasingly, as Kerala makes its mark on the modern world, the influences widen to embrace Mexican, American, French, Japanese, Turkish and other cuisines.

Kerala has always been a place of fusion - a focal point for the flow of culinary influences across the world. And this remarkable history of food and culture is distilled to its finest point in one small part of Kochi - the three square miles of Mattancherry.