Paachakam’s unusual cultural tales are told through its array of recipes, both known and uncommon, interspersed with Nupur Panemanglor’s evocative illustrations. Both transport us into a landscape studded with coconut and bulging with jackfruit, waters teeming with fish and trees garlanded with emerald pepper strands. These ingredients provide commonality to the recipes as much as they provide distinction: the use of fresh coconut here or just oil there or its absence entirely makes a good part of the difference between a Kannur Thiya kozhi (chicken) biryani or the Mappila fish and Thalassery biryanis. Jackfruit is special every where, but a connective thread for the Nairs more than others perhaps.