Travel in Kerala India with 5 y.o.- Food

I don't have any recent experience in Kerala, but my kids have grown up in southern India. Limited western food is widely available now, and you will certainly be able to buy biscuits, crisps/chips, and usually at least white bread, jam and things like that. Cornflakes and a few other cereals are also found in many places. I am guessing you mean smaller towns rather than villages?

Most touristy places (which is a lot of Kerala) will have places serving some western food and some fast food chains are also dotted about these days. Just take caution in eating in places like Subway, where the food is uncooked. If you need to rely on Indian dishes, then you can try some plain kebabs if available (some of the chicken ones are simple and delicious, but may not be that common there). You should also be able to get things like fried rice and omelettes. Dosas and idlis are simple and often liked by kids. Dosas (rice pancake) can be eaten without anything, and kids often like sugar and ghee with idlis (rice cakes). You could also try some of the kerala dishes - just ask for something that is not spicy. Many are cooked with coconut cream so are mild.

Thanks a lot!!

One more thing - sometimes we take the meat out of a curry and wash it (with drinking water) and give to the kids. You can also try that. You can also get plain dals in most places - mix with ghee and rice.

Thanks a lot Api
This is very helpful

We have travelled to Kerala several times - most recently in December, though not with small children (only a 20 year old). On our most recent trip we stayed in several homestays where all meals were included. The hosts were all very accommodating re our food preferences so I am sure that if you stayed in that type of accommodation as much as possible they will try to cook something your son will like.

When eating out (away from major tourist centres) the range of food is more restricted. It will be much the same as the food available in Tamil Nadu. As Api mentioned dosas and iddly may be something you son will like. Vadai are also worth a try - savoury donut-like snacks, usually only very mildly spiced. All these dishes are served with sambar and coconut chutney - stay away from this part of the meal as they are very hot.

Even in non touristy areas railway snack bars have a wide range of biscuits, crisps and other snacks. But I would also take few familiar snack items with you - we took a stock of muesli bars which proved useful for the always-hungry 20 year old.

Thanks a lot Bude
We are also planning to stay with homestays. Do you have any places to recommend (especially in North Kerala)? Maybe you can drop me a personal message to take this conversation from the general thread

Thanks a lot again
Yana

Hi,

We were in Kerala with our kids aged 5,5 and 3,5 this christmas. We stayed on the tourist trail - Trivandrum, Munnar, Kumily, Cochin, and had no problems finding food suited for the kids around there. As previous replies says, the homestays are very keen to cook something for the kids as well. Pancakes for breakfast on several occasions! Pasta was easy to find, and cheese sandwiches, toast with spread etc as well. From the more local kitchen the kids would eat plain rice, different types of nan/chapati, and also tandoori chicken. We asked to have it cooked without hot spices and it turned out great. Kerala is also one giant fruit bowl, so fresh fruit is widely available and popular with our young ones, at least. We found crackers and biscuits of different kinds in most small shops along the road too.
Enjoy your trip, Kerala is beautiful and lots of fun with the kids!

Thanks LadyLuna

Any suggstions for children attractions that shouldn't be missed? Did you try backwaters?

Here's our approach to food and kids and travel
:
http://www.goinganyway.net/2012/07/22/kids-travel-food-rule:

HTH