Smoke returns to Kerala’s kitchens

Before the first customer arrives at Kattile Kada, the day has already begun in the forest.

At first light, Sasikumari Kani and the other women step off the Vithura–Peppara dam road in Thiruvananthapuram district and walk into the woods. This is the foothill stretch of the Western Ghats, where the road skirts the Peppara reservoir, and settlements thin into Adivasi hamlets. Here, cooking fuel is not delivered. It is gathered.

They return balancing bundles of firewood on their heads. Only then does the kitchen open. Kattile kada literally translates as ‘shop in the forest.’

Within the small roadside eatery, smoke rises and hangs low over blackened vessels. An unused LPG cylinder rests in a corner. Refills are irregular, prices have risen, and supply is uncertain.

“We cannot depend on gas anymore,” says Sasikumari, 59. “So we have gone back to this.”

Across Kerala, small eateries are struggling with disruptions in liquified petroleum gas (LPG) supply arising from the US-Israel war on Iran. Delays and higher costs are pushing many to return to firewood.

At Kattile Kada, that shift has reshaped the entire day.

Sasikumari, started the eatery four years ago after her husband, Maniyan, 58, fell ill and could no longer do manual labour. Being Kanis – a small Adivasi community of the South Western Ghats closely bound to the forests – Sasikumari turned to what she knew best: food shaped by the land.

With support from the Integrated Tribal Development Programme and loans accessed through Kudumbashree, the women built a modest roadside kitchen – for an income stream. Kudumbashree ‘hotels’ helped many survive during the Covid-19 lockdown.

LPG brought some ease – cutting smoke and time on firewood collection. Now, gathering firewood is the first task every morning.

“If we don’t go early, we won’t have enough,” says Swapna Kani, 38, Sasikumari’s daughter-in-law. The extra labour means much of their energy is spent before the first meal is ready.

Inside, the work is slower, heavier. The fire must be constantly fed. Smoke fills the room. Heat builds and lingers. Cooking for large numbers takes longer.

Yet the numbers have only grown.

By midday, the eatery is full. Travellers heading to Peppara dam stop here. People come from nearby towns like Vithura and Palode. Some drawn by stories of meals served on arrowroot leaves.

Food here is simple and rooted. Tapioca forms the base. Curries depend on what’s available. Meals are served on freshly cut arrowroot leaves that lend a faint medicinal flavour.

“Food cooked on firewood tastes different,” says a visitor from Thiruvananthapuram, folding his leaf after a meal. Others too, say the taste is richer.

That taste comes at a cost.

From serving around 60 to 120 meals earlier, the eatery now feeds nearly 200 people a day. There is no shift to convenience, no expansion. The work has simply intensified. A typical meal – fish curry with ponni rice or red rice, and three small vegetable dishes – costs Rs. 60. An excellent spread, but “all five members of our family work here and together make between Rs. 4,200-5,000 a day [net].”

Across Kerala, several Kudumbashree-run eateries, including large community kitchens, have begun reverting to firewood as LPG supply shrinks. Some have reduced menus. Others have altered timings.

For the Kani women, the shift carries a deeper strain. Their food traditions have always drawn from the forest. Cooking with firewood is not new.

But the reason for returning to it is.

“This is not how we planned it,” Sasikumari says. “Gas made things easier. Now it’s more work.” More time spent gathering fuel. More exposure to smoke. More effort for each meal served.

By late afternoon, the rush slows. The firewood stack has thinned. The last customers leave. The forest edges closer again.

Before sunrise, the women will return to the forest, collecting what they need to keep the kitchen running. Far away, decisions about fuel and supply will continue to shift. Here, at Kattile Kada, those shifts settle quietly into routine.

One bundle of firewood at a time.