Travels: Stylish and Sustainable Feast in Southern India
One of the best examples of sustainable tableware is the traditional way of serving a Sadhya. A Sadhya a traditional festival and wedding meal from the southern India state of Kerala. Sadhya means banquet in the Karala local language called Malayalam. It’s typically a mid-day meal rather than an evening meal though there are lighter versions of Sadhyas that can be served in the evening. Sadia meals are served on banana leaves. In a traditional wedding or celebratory Sadhya the food is served onto a banana leaf which is placed directly on the floor where people are seated cross-legged on mats. Other occasions or venues like the one I attended below place the banana leaf directly on a table. Banana leaves make great plates. They’re food safe, make great plates because waxy surface keeps any oils or sauces from going through, the food colors look great on that rich green color, clean up is nothing more than rolling them up and throwing them away and best of all they’re completely sustainable and biodegradable.
A Sadhya is served in a specific way. The banana leaf is placed with narrow part of the leaf pointing to the left. Dishes are placed in a particular order and in particular locations starting fron the top left corner of the leaf. First various pickled dishes are served on the top left corner and the banana on the bottom left corner. The other dishes are then placed between those two elements in specific places with a rice placed along the bottom side of the leaf. A typical Sadhya can have about 24–28 dishes served as a single course but that number can grow to 60 dishes for some grand weddings or festivals.
We enjoyed the Sadhya shown here aboard a house boat at the extraordinary resort Vasundhara Sarovar Luxury Backwater Resort in Alleppey near Kumarakom, Kerala, India.
Several servers each with caddies of multiple delicacies work quickly to place all the separate dishes in specific places on each leaf.
Detail of the vivid colors and fresh textures of a traditional South Indian sadhya .
