Moments before we embarked on our Kerala trip this July, our first, my best friend announced: “I am on a Keto diet”.

Not a problem for a state known for — or infamous for — its meat-eating habits, right? But here is the catch: My friend is practically a vegan.

That leaves her with almost no choices, you would say, especially with even legumes being off-limits in Keto. I thought the same.

But here is what my friend chomped down during the trip: A variety of starters fashioned out of our humble phool gobhi (cauliflower), multiple preparations of mushroom, a few helpings of tofu and paneer dishes (whenever the “almost” in “almost vegan” kicked in), and an assortment of vegetable preparations (avial, thoran) accompanied by rasam and moru (spiced buttermilk) mashed into the almond rotis she had packed.

Halfway through the trip, she gleefully declared Kerala — wait for it — a “keto-friendly state”. Not the honour Kerala may have been looking for but one that, I am sure, it would gladly accept.…