A Guide to Mattancherry’s Unique Cuisines and Neighbourhoods
Mattancherry is a historic neighbourhood in Kerala, celebrated for its charming colonial-era buildings. While the Dutch, Portuguese and Jewish communities left an enduring architectural legacy, migrants from across India have enriched the area in another way —through the culinary traditions they continue to sustain, finds Hanna Paul. At first glance, Mattanchery looks and feels like a historic neighbourhood. It is small, but deceptively so, home to over 39 communities comfortably housed within its five-kilometre radius. I begin my walk on the road behind Dutch Palace, a narrow street that looks rather ordinary. A faint aroma of sandalwood fills the air, as I pass houses with pronounced front porches and hand-drawn kolams on either side of the street. This area is home to the Iyers from Tamil Nadu. A few metres down the road, the scenery changes: lassi shops and sweet-makers mark a Gujarati neighbourhood. A few turns ahead, a line of Kannadiga homes appear with beautiful deities at their entrance. Further along, large apartment complexes reveal a cluster of Jain families, sharing a wall with …
