The hunger for innovation appears to be sharpening the taste buds in the time of the global pandemic.
Chefs in Tamil Nadu are giving a 'corona' twist to their menu, some of them with success and some by courting legal trouble, in the process.A restaurant in Madurai, the famed temple town in the south, has come up with a 'Mask parotta’ that resembles a three-ply mask. Madurai is known for its ‘parottas’ made of ‘maida’, as opposed to the ‘paranthas’ made of wheat in the northern parts of the country.Kumar, who owns a restaurant called Temple City, has improvised on the ‘Ceylon parotta’ (also called ‘veechu parotta’), which is made by spreading out the oil soaked ‘maida’ dough into a transparently thin sheet, in the shape of a mask.
The idea, according to him, is to create awareness on the importance of wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Madurai, incidentally, is facing a complete lockdown, following rising cases. Photos of his 'Mask parotta’ were widely shared on social media and mobile messaging platforms. The edible mask is priced at Rs 25.Quite a few small eateries have tried out the 'corona dosa’. The ‘dosa’ batter is spread out on the ‘tava’ in the shape of a corona - essentially a round ‘dosa’ with spikes. However, while the 'corona dosa’ is a hit among children, it is not something that adults would die for.A Coimbatore-based sweetmeat shop owner, however, took this menu innovation a bit too far. He advertised a herbal ‘Mysurpa’ labelling it as 'Corona Cure Mysurpa’.
The ‘Mysurpa’ is a sweet made of besan, ghee and sugar that melts in your mouth and was originally popularised by a famed sweet seller, who has his origins in Coimbatore. Since then its menu has been plagiarised by others but with limited success.However, the 'Corona Cure Mysurpa’ ran into trouble with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India officials suspending the license of Sri Ram Vilas Nellai Lala Sweets. The shop owner Sriram was booked under the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act for passing off the 'herbal' sweet as a cure for COVID-19 and as an immunity booster. About 120 kg of the 'corona Cure Mysurpa’ was seized.
