Don’t Miss to Taste the Traditional Lunch on your next Badami Holiday

Experiencing local food is an essential component of my travels. I am limited in my capacity as a vegetarian, but I try my level best to overcome this handicap by being extremely bold with my food choices. Most of my best culinary experiences have come on the street where the local flavors reign supreme.



Last weekend, I was at Badami and Pattadakkal, the place that is known for its 7th century cave temples and 8th century school of temple architecture respectively. Most of you would not know this, but Pattadakkal is my favorite temple complex in Karnataka and this region’s local lunch is my favorite lunch in Karnataka. Every time I visit this region, I ensure that I have the traditional lunch here. This traditional lunch holds as much importance to me as the UNESCO World Heritage site temple complex itself. I know this might be a bit too much, but I really love this local food.



And the best way to enjoy this traditional lunch comprising of jola roti (maize based bread), hesaru belle (Green gram), sagu (slight curry based seasonal vegetables), kaara podi (spicy powder comprising of garlic, brinjal and spices), majjigai (butter milk) and massuru (yoghurt) is to look out for a local woman with a huge aluminium pot like vessel on her head. These women who live in surrounding villages cook this food every morning at their homes and bring it to the temple complex for selling. Thus, there is true local flavor written all over it. This local North Karnataka lunch is sumptuous and offers a perfect way to reenergize after a walk through the temples in the warm sun. And the best part is that they come extremely cheap. Now, the next time you are in Badami, Aihole and Pattadakkal, don’t look for a restaurant when you are hungry, but look for this traditional food cooked by the local village women.