Pop goes the prasadam at a little temple in Padappai, a suburb on the outskirts of Chennai, which has replaced traditional south Indian offerings like tamarind rice and sweet pongal for a more trendy dedication of burgers and brownies, cracker sandwiches and cherry tomato salads. And Food Safety and Standards Authority of India certified ones at that, with manufactured, expiry and best before dates stamped on every serving.
It isn't just the menu that's modern at the Jaya Durga Peetham, the service is too. Here, you will find visitors slipping token into vending machines to collect boxes of their 'pret-a-prasadam', prepared with precision in the automated temple kitchen.
K Sri Sridhar, a herbal oncologist who helped set up the temple, says his idea to serve up desserts and sandwiches as part of the temple prasadam has rustled up quite a bit of interest among locals and tourists. "The idea was to show that anything that is nutritious and prepared in a clean kitchen with a clean mind can be served to God. It doesn't have to be only traditional dishes," says Sridhar.
A few months ago, the temple even introduced the 'birthday cake prasadam' for its devotees. "We maintain a computerised register of their birth dates and addresses and door deliver a cake prasadam to them. It's a hit among the elderly devotees, because coming from the temple it adds a special touch to the occasion," says Sridhar.
On Saturday, for instance, 81-year-old Subbulakshmi was more than pleasantly surprised when she received a cake prasadam. "It was so pretty with flowers and icing," says the 81-year-old, adding it was her first surprise cake ever. "And it came with an agar deepam (a traditional oil lamp) instead of candles which was so nice. Just like they light at the temple," she adds. "When we set up the temple we thought we should give Gods the food we relish," he says. Guess nothing says that better than a butterscotch mousse.
http://www.jayadurgapeetam.org
It isn't just the menu that's modern at the Jaya Durga Peetham, the service is too. Here, you will find visitors slipping token into vending machines to collect boxes of their 'pret-a-prasadam', prepared with precision in the automated temple kitchen.
K Sri Sridhar, a herbal oncologist who helped set up the temple, says his idea to serve up desserts and sandwiches as part of the temple prasadam has rustled up quite a bit of interest among locals and tourists. "The idea was to show that anything that is nutritious and prepared in a clean kitchen with a clean mind can be served to God. It doesn't have to be only traditional dishes," says Sridhar.
A few months ago, the temple even introduced the 'birthday cake prasadam' for its devotees. "We maintain a computerised register of their birth dates and addresses and door deliver a cake prasadam to them. It's a hit among the elderly devotees, because coming from the temple it adds a special touch to the occasion," says Sridhar.
On Saturday, for instance, 81-year-old Subbulakshmi was more than pleasantly surprised when she received a cake prasadam. "It was so pretty with flowers and icing," says the 81-year-old, adding it was her first surprise cake ever. "And it came with an agar deepam (a traditional oil lamp) instead of candles which was so nice. Just like they light at the temple," she adds. "When we set up the temple we thought we should give Gods the food we relish," he says. Guess nothing says that better than a butterscotch mousse.
http://www.jayadurgapeetam.org
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