Dosa is probably one of the dishes that is enjoyed by people across the country, notwithstanding local preferences. The vegetarian dish, however, has managed to be the centre of a fresh controversy after a man claimed that he witnessed it being made in Kerala with “egg water”. Now, along with a whole lot of netizens, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor too has joined the conversation.
Taking to Twitter, a man identified as Manish Jain recently said that while at “Chochi” (Kochi) airport, he was shocked to see “egg water” being used to “bake South Indian Food such as Dosa”.
Complaining against the food outlet Earth Lounge, Jain wrote: “They simply play with Religious Belief [sic]”. The man further claimed that when he confronted the staff about their “wrongly” practice, the staff said the dishes were made “as per standard” and said the eatery refused to share its “manual” when asked.
In a subsequent tweet, he urged the Kerala Chief Minister and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to look into the matter. “Kindly get the Practice stopped to hurt the emotions of Vegetarian and Jain’s Travelling to #Kerala,” he wrote in his appeal.
Need Attention of @fssaiindia your attention to intervent the same… Also Request @tourismkerala @CMOKerala @htTweets @KochiAirport Kindly get the Practice stopped to hurt the emotions of Vegetarian and Jain’s Travelling to #Kerala
— Manish Jain (@InsureMeForever) May 3, 2022
@fssaiindia has Regulated to mention what is Veg and what is Non Veg… And if they mark as Veg and prepare ‘Non Veg’ and Say it’s ‘ Veg ‘ its not acceptable.. Also what they says its Standard Practice… I am afraid is this is same being patern used in all their Chain Hotels!!!
— Manish Jain (@InsureMeForever) May 4, 2022
Tharoor, the MP for Thiruvananthapuram, shared a tongue-in-cheek response, calling Jain “an outraged young vegan” in a limerick that too went viral soon: “Hearing “thanda” (cold) as “anda” (egg); He “baked” a huge blunder; Should have stuck to chawal & baingan! (rice and brinjal).”
In “Chochi”, an outraged young vegan
Reacted as if shot with a ray-gun;
Hearing “thanda” as “anda”
He “baked” a huge blunder
Should have stuck to chawal & baingan! https://t.co/Swf2u6rn92— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 6, 2022
The tweet garnered quite an attention on the platform and while some expressed their concern about not finding enough vegetarian restaurants in the state, others dubbed Jain’s claims as “baseless”.
Others argued like Tharoor that the man may have misheard it as ‘anda paani’ when the eatery staff may have said ‘thanda paani’ as cold water is often splashed on the hot tawa before the batter is poured.
Plenty of netizens also pointed out that Jain had misspelt Kochi as “Chochi” and that dosa is not “baked” as he had tweeted.
This is not anda or thanda. Egg water means the water that was used to boil or wash eggs. That water was used in making dosa.
— SUMIT JAIN (@24JainSumit) May 6, 2022
A simple misunderstanding by the poor fellow who assumed that his Keralite cook speaks impeccable Hindi. Manish Jain @InsureMeForever we can understand your pain. Do visit Kerala again. You have raised awareness to the food habits of Jain’s. Don’t feel bad by all the tweets.
— Rajesh Kumar (@KumarOnly333) May 6, 2022
The guy was grossly mistaken and he’s overdoing it, but any vegetarian would surely freak out for a second if they heard that their vegetarian dish is being made with egg or its derivative. Egg water doesn’t exist is information for me at least, and perhaps other vegetarians too.
— Shakethorne (@shakethorne) May 6, 2022
I lived in that so called Chochi for four years. Never felt or saw Dosa being baked! 🤣
I just loved the city Kochi/Cochin/Ernakulam! 🥰
— Sachidanand (@Iam_Sachidanand) May 6, 2022
There are good veg restuarants opp railway station in Thiruvananthapuram. Aryas park is good. Quite a good number of options around the place. I had been there 3 weeks back. No problems for Pure Veg ppl there.
— Srivathsa Kalale Nadaddur (@srivathsa_kn) May 4, 2022
Thanda pani pronounced as tanda pani The way Mallus say thanda omits the stress and says tanda ( like tan-da with a Malayalee accent ) – n if u use the same brush to dip n wipe the tava it becomes yellowish after a while – tava is wiped with cold water after each dosa
— indu (@gopal_indu) May 4, 2022
Egg water recipe for those interested pic.twitter.com/erZx4WcvYK
— krishter (@krishter) May 6, 2022
This guy might be on to something and some NRI will bake dosas in “egg infused” water for Masterchef 🙂 #andekafunda
— Maneesha (@mannibal) May 6, 2022
might have been a half-baked dosa.
— Aakar Patel (@Aakar__Patel) May 6, 2022
When thanda became anda 😂
— Somil Mathur (@SomilMathur) May 6, 2022
Nowadays the unity shown by all South Indians and staying true to India .
This has to be some next level shit.
Thank to all North Indians for ur effort in uniting. pic.twitter.com/sbrOEaWrNB— Amara Santosh Kumar🇮🇳 (@santosh_amara) May 5, 2022
