Kerala Kalamandalam serves non-vegetarian food to students for the first time in its history

An official at the Deemed-to-be-University said that chicken biryani, prepared at the famous kitchen run by inmates of Viyyur Central Jail, was served to the students on Wednesday.

Thiruvananthapuram: Breaking a tradition that has been followed since its inception in 1930, Kerala Kalamandalam, a deemed to be university under the Kerala government conducting courses on traditional performing art forms, has decided to serve non-vegetarian food to students.

Students of the residential campus situated at Thrissur in Kerala were given the option of having chicken biryani purchased from the Viyyur central prison.

Kalamandalam registrar Rajesh Kumar P said that the decision was taken considering the long-pending demand of students. Out of the 480 students in the campus, 450 opted for non-vegetarian food. Hence it was decided to serve chicken biryani twice a month, to begin with, at the mess.

He clarified that there was no blanket ban on non vegetarian food in the campus. Even students used to buy non-vegetarian food through food delivery apps and consume at the hostel. Eggs used to be served to students earlier. Since the students are learning performing arts they need to have adequate food to ensure energy. Hence the food of their choice needs to be given consideration in consultation with dietitians, he said.

Kalamandalam was recently in the news for lifting the ban on male students to pursue courses in 'Mohiniyattam' dance. The decision came close on the heels of racist and discriminatory remarks of dancer Kalamandalam Sathyabhama against males performing 'Mohiniyattam' allegedly targeting known male Mohiniyattam artist R L V Ramakrishnan.