When he walked onto the sets of Amrita TV hoping to host a magic show, Raj Kalesh had no idea he would end up becoming the face of a number of food programmes on Malayalam television.
He was not too keen about this change of plans, but during his first show, watching Pazhayidom Mohanam Namboodiri cook aviyal, adding ingredients one after another in quick succession, was to Kalesh, like watching his guru Muthukad perform magic.
Kalesh has travelled all over Kerala and several parts of the world in search of different foods. His recent expedition to Sri Lanka made him a lover of lump-rice that you get only in Kandy.
He also loved the macher jhol (fish curry) made by some Bengali families on Neil Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands — the place he believes is the best he has visited. Yet his most favourite is kappa (tapioca) made by an old woman called Mary Stephen in TK Colony, 30 km from Nilambur.
For Kalesh, who does a lot of travelling, the day starts with a litre of water. He also needs to have a heavy breakfast. “If I am home I like to have lots of puttu and kadala. In Nagaland they have rice for breakfast. This happens in Nepal too. In fact the farming community there eats only twice a day — their markets have lots of leafy vegetables,” Kalesh couldn’t help slipping into his food tours as he speaks of his routine.
Dinner is light and after watching pesticides sprayed into tea leaves, he seldom drinks tea or coffee at anytime of the day.
