A plate containing boiled kappa together with a spicy fish curry is clearly identified as being Kerala food. Tapioca is found on restaurant menus, in home kitchens and is part of the range of dishes linked with the state’s food culture. However, the crop that is at the heart of this well-known combination did not originate in Kerala or even in India; cassava, the plant whose starchy root is usually known as tapioca in India, was brought from South America before becoming a staple in Kerala.
Cassava was introduced to India by the Portuguese in the 17th century, and its subsequent spread in Kerala is linked to the former state of Travancore. When ruling Travancore from 1880 to 1885, Maharaja Visakham Thirunal Rama Varma realised the crop’s potential and promoted its cultivation, particularly in the late 19th century, a period when the kingdom was experiencing food shortages.
However, history has many layers. Instead of picturing a king suddenly coming across a completely unknown type of crop and bringing it to Kerala, we can view Visakham Thirunal as part of a longer process involving experimentation and changes in agriculture. Cassava was already in the area, and the Travancore administration assisted in promoting its cultivation as well as in identifying varieties appropriate for the local conditions. What was important was not merely the origin of the plant, but whether it could address a problem—namely, food security.
A Crop For ncertain times
Because Travancore depended so much on imported rice, times of food shortages were especially severe. The state had come to be involved in a cash-crop economy and at the same time had to rely on rice from Burma to meet part of its food needs. It thus became vulnerable should those supplies be interrupted. The region’s weakness during the Second World War can be traced back to this economic change and its dependence on imported rice from Burma.
Cassava put forward an alternative option; it was a crop high in carbohydrates which could be grown locally and was suitable for the conditions in Kerala. Since the state was seeking methods by which to increase its food supply, this was a useful proposition. The crop did not rely on imports but could instead be cultivated in the soil nearby people’s houses and on their farms.
During the Second World War, when Japan was in control of Burma, the supply of rice from Burma to India was seriously interrupted. Since Travancore had already been relying on imported rice, it was especially vulnerable. From 1942 to 1944 the area suffered greatly from hunger, disease and starvation, and about 90,000 people died as a result of widespread disease and starvation during that crisis.
The response was not merely about increasing rice production; the government also promoted alternative foods such as tapioca and bananas while working on the regulation of procurement and distribution. Tapioca farming in Travancore rose by about one-third between 1943 and 1944, which caused it to become the most widely used emergency substitute food during the crisis.
Since rice became scarce and hunger remained serious, people resorted to various foods, including tapioca, and some even ate the leaves of tapioca and other non-food substances in order to fill their stomachs.
From poor man’s food to regional identity
The same history also accounts for the fact that tapioca had a social stigma since it was linked with scarcity and the diets of the poorer sections of society. When there was a wartime crisis, those people who were not able to get enough rice had to rely more on alternative foods; modern-day accounts refer to tapioca as an emergency food and not as a culinary luxury.
Nevertheless, foods that are linked with necessity often come to have a different meaning in time.
When a certain food becomes such a widespread part of everyday consumption, people no longer focus solely on the reason for eating it; instead they develop on the ways in which it can be eaten. A simply boiled root develops recipes, various combinations and memories. In Kerala tapioca could be boiled, mashed or fried, but its most well-known association was with fish curry. This combination is both practical and culinary: the starchy root supplies the bulk while the fish contributes protein and flavour.
This pairing was also seen from a nutritional point of view during the food crisis. Reports from that time talk about measures taken to promote tapioca combined with fish as a more nutritionally balanced meal. What initially served as a reaction to food shortages then became a combination that made sense in the kitchen and eventually found its way into regional tastes.
The story was also carried by people; when the war crisis occurred, thousands migrated from various parts of Travancore to the forests and the agricultural frontiers of Malabar in order to secure land and food. In their new settlements the migrants grew crops such as tapioca and rice. Thus food moved with migration. The extension of a crop was at the same time the extension of a method of earning a living.\
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