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Sienna Cafe’s Malayali chef cooks up the perfect Onam sadya

Keeping alive culinary traditions, chef Abishek Nair prepared a therapeutic Onam sadya and documented it in a reel

Good food doesn’t just fill your hunger pangs, it transports you to the time of your most cherished memories. A great meal can become a culinary gateway to love, warmth, home and nostalgia. For chef Abishek Nair of Kolkata’s Sienna Store & Cafe, it was cooking a traditional sadya for Onam this year that brought oodles of nostalgia in every spoon of payasam.  He perfectly documented this emotional aspect of food in his latest Instagram reel where he prepared a traditional feast (or sadya), which usually features over 20-odd dishes served on a banana leaf. 

In the reel, he shared how preparing the Onam sadya meal is a way for him to stay connected to his traditions while living away from his hometown in Kerala. While laying the delectable spread out onto a banana leaf, he also explained how this unique meal stands for Kerala’s culture of unifying people with food. If you’re feeling homesick this festival season, this reel might feel like a warm hug!

 —Vedant Karia

Also read: Science of ‘sadya’: How to enjoy a traditional Onam feast