Eminent culinary expert Pazhayidam Mohanan Namboothiri, who has been preparing and serving dishes to thousands of people every day at the food pavilions of the Kerala school youth festival, on Sunday said he will not be taking part in the gala in the coming years.


The controversy surrounding serving of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes for the youth festival had earlier died down after state General Education Minister V Sivankutty assured that the government will try to serve both types of food from the next youth festival.


However, Namboothiri told news channels today that the "unnecessary controversy" of not serving non-vegetarian dishes hurt him a lot.


"This time we did not allow anyone to enter our kitchen after this controversy. Normally, that's not the situation. I was quite worried this time. The trend has changed and I am worried about it and have decided not to take part in such youth festivals any more," Namboothiri told the TV channels.


He said it was the government which had decided to serve vegetarian dishes to the students and there was no need to make it communal.


"The government could have easily made a decision to serve non-vegetarian dishes but instead some people decided to taint my image. Some people tried to bring in caste and religion.


"If there is any complaint regarding the food served, we can understand, but it was disappointing that the discussion was diverted to some other unnecessary topics," Namboothiri said.


He said non-vegetarian dishes can be served only if there is an assurance that only a definite number of people will be there to consume food.


The state school youth festival is known for its huge participation ranging from 30,000 to 40,000 every day.


For decades, lip-smacking vegetarian delicacies have been served among participating children, their teachers and parents at the food pavilions of the annual gala, known for its massive participation of children.


However, some netizens had questioned the years-long practice of serving only vegetarian items during the festival, triggering intense exchange of views in and outside social media platforms.


A Facebook user charged that the "vegetarian only" menu in the festival was part of "vegetarian fundamentalism" and a "reflection of caste belief".


Another person, in his Facebook post, lamented that the presence of Brahmins in the kitchens of art festivals was the commemoration of the "surrender of renaissance and democratic values at the feet of Brahmanism".


However, government sources and Namboothiri himself had earlier clarified that there were some practical difficulties in preparing non-vegetarian dishes in such huge quantities for events where the number of attendees cannot be ascertained in advance.


Meanwhile, Sivankutty had on Saturday also, during the closing ceremony of the five-day art, music and dance extravaganza assured that the government will consider introducing non-vegetarian dishes from next year.


At the same time, BJP state chief K Surendran on Sunday attacked the Left government saying the CPI(M) tried to divide the people along communal lines.


"Some people tried to divide people and used the food served in this regard to do the same. The ruling CPI(M) was behind this. This controversy was not there in this state for the past many years. They tried to create communal issues in the name of food," Surendran said.


Kozhikode district bagged the top spot to become the champions of the 61st Kerala State School Youth Festival which concluded on Saturday.


(This report is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the copy by ABP Live.)