Few would love to hate the dosa, the south Indian delicacy part of breakfasts, dinner and everything in between.

But the art of dosa making has come under glare, thanks to a social media video clip captioned “Crazy Rush for Most Hi-Tech Dosa of Bangalore”, which shows how a broom is used to clean the pan each time a dosa is made.

The dosa maker, dosa master in restaurant parlance, is seen using a broom to clean the dosa thattu (tawa) and dousing it with liberal doses of ghee to make the food item crispy.

The video posted by an influencer who goes by the name Thefoodiebae on Facebook shows the dosa making process at a popular eatery in Bangalore.

Before spreading the batter for multiple dosas, the dosa master sprinkles water on the giant tawa and cleans up the remnants from the previous batch of dosas with a broomstick. He is then seen squirting liberal quantities of ghee straight from a sachet onto the dosas to make them crispy brown.

But many were aghast at a broom being used to clean the tawa, a routine before spreading the batter each time. While dosa masters at restaurants have traditionally used brooms made of strands stripped from coconut fronds, many social media users reacted with utter shock.

“Lol… Broom. Dosa!! Cleaning it with a broom!! Disgusting!! Dirty unhygienic!!” reacted Monica Kharmyndai.

Others expressed concern at the excess ghee in the hugely popular dish and raised health concerns.

“Most Hi-Tech Dosa of Bangalore using jhadoo (broom) to clean the tawa at the same time using excessive ghee for the customer to visit doctor soon. Nothing hi-tech about this,” commented Dilip Sanghvi.

“Looking toooo oily. Not good for health. Using jhadu for cleaning both restaurant and tawa,” remarked Rishi Kacker.

The dosa controversy spiralled into other social media platforms as well, where many south Indians came out defending the use of a broom and pointing out that it is used only for dosa making.

“Dude!! Every single breakfast place in Bengaluru uses a broom to clean their dosa stones. We Bangaloreans don’t have any issue with this. The disgusting thing is done by those destroying dosa by adding unwanted stuff on it!!” a person who goes by the name That Nair Guy commented on X.

“What’s wrong with using broom exclusively for Dosa making?” reacted Vijay on X.

“Whoever is offended, let them not eat dosa. Using a broom is normal practice. They don’t use that broom to sweep the hotel floor. Why is the Y Gen idiotic & outraging all the time? What’s wrong with these fellows?” Tamil blogger Anbudan Bala commented on X.

Arun Adiga, whose family owns the iconic Vidyarthi Bhavan restaurant at Basavangudi in south Bangalore that is famous for its dosas, rubbished all social media rage over a broom. “It is an absolutely ridiculous and uninformed discussion since restaurants have traditionally used brooms exclusively meant for dosa making. No one uses these brooms for sweeping the floor.”

The restaurant that was started in 1943 is a magnet for dosa lovers.

“The broom is made of natural fibre which is the most suitable for cleaning the tawa that is kept hot between 140-180 degrees Celsius. We even tried a stainless steel broom, once thought to be a decent alternative. But it turned out to be totally useless and didn’t have the natural features of the traditional broom,” Adiga said.

Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy being one of his regular customers, Adiga recalled what the tech billionaire told him on Thursday. “Murthy sir visited us this morning. During a general discussion with him, he said one should never get bogged down by social media criticisms if our intention is right.”

Adiga, however, said the debate on the quantity of ghee was “another matter”.

“That is another matter since restaurants often find their uniqueness by specific methods of cooking,” he said.