Onam.

The Onam food culture

Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala - a ten-day window in August or September that celebrates the mythical reign of King Mahabali. The centrepiece is the Onasadya, a multi-course vegetarian meal served on a banana leaf, but the surrounding food culture is broader: gifts exchanged between families, snack boxes sent to colleagues, Kerala food shipped from Kerala to wherever the diaspora has settled.

Calicut Cravings ships one thing from that table and one thing beside it. Banana chips are the Onam savoury: upperi on the leaf, the tin in the sitting room, the packet in the suitcase. Ours are Nendran, thin-cut, fried in coconut oil and salted, sealed to keep three months. Kozhi Ada is the second pack, for the many Malabar households whose Onam is not strictly vegetarian. Kozhikodan halwa, the other great Calicut Onam sweet, is not something we make - our guide to it, and to where to buy it, is on the blog.

If you're sending an Onam order from outside Kerala - from Bangalore or Mumbai to family back home, or from Dubai to parents in Kochi - allow four to seven days for delivery, so ship by mid-August for arrival before the main festival days.

What to order for Onam

• Kerala banana chips - The Onam savoury. Nendran, coconut oil, salt. Vegetarian, keeps three months, travels anywhere.
• Kozhi Ada - For households whose Onam table includes it. Non-vegetarian.
• Several packs for the family - Chips disappear fast on Onam day. Order by the household, not the person.
• Bulk for colleagues - Packs for a team or a client list - write to us with the count and the addresses.

Timing

About hampers

An Onam hamper is not in the first range. We launch with two packs; hampers built from them, and the Onam box in particular, follow. For this Onam, banana chips by the pack is the honest offer, and a very good one.