Porotta drought in Malappuram as Bengal workers head home to vote

In several restaurants across Malappuram, one of the most familiar sights is suddenly missing from the menu: hot, flaky Kerala porotta. The reason, surprisingly, lies hundreds of kilometres away in West Bengal, where elections are underway.

Restaurant owners across the district say the shortage has a simple explanation. A large number of the cooks who specialise in making porotta are migrant workers from Bengal. With elections back home, many of them have returned to cast their votes, leaving kitchens short-staffed and tawas cold.

The connection may sound unlikely at first. What does a state election in eastern India have to do with a staple on a Malappuram plate? Quite a lot, it turns out. In many eateries, the rhythmic art of stretching, folding and flipping porotta dough is handled almost entirely by migrant workers, particularly from Bengal and, to a lesser extent, Assam.

This year, concerns linked to voter roll revisions prompted more workers than usual to head home for polling. Even those who typically stay back during elections chose to travel, say restaurant owners. The result has been a double blow for the industry.

First came an earlier shortage of cooking gas cylinders, which had already forced many establishments to cut down on their menu. Now, with fewer hands in the kitchen, several restaurants have reduced working hours. Places that once served customers from morning till night are now opening only in the evenings.

Elections in Assam were held earlier this month, and some workers have already started returning. But their numbers are relatively small in the restaurant sector. In Bengal, polling is still ongoing in two phases, with the second phase scheduled for Wednesday, April 29. Restaurant owners expect workers to trickle back by early next month, though a full return may take longer.

There is another factor in play. Some workers may choose to stay back until after Eid al-Adha before returning to Kerala. That means the porotta drought could linger a while longer.

For now, in a district where porotta is nothing short of a daily ritual, diners are having to adjust.