S.R. RAMAKRISHNA writes from Bangalore: Iyengar bakeries must be Karnataka’s culinary gift to the world.
The Iyengars of Tamil Nadu don’t run bakeries. The Iyengar bakeries in Madras—a friend tells me that city has at least two dozen—are called Bangalore Iyengar bakeries.
How this orthodox Tamil-speaking Brahmin sect got into the business of making English-style buns, puffs and biscuits is one the biggest puzzles of Karnataka’s cultural history. A couple of bakery owners tell me they don’t eat the cakes they make because they are vegetarian, and can’t have eggs.
Among the Iyengars, only the Vadagalai sect is associated with the bakery business. All bakery owners hail from Hassan district, which has also famously produced a prime minister in H.D. Deve Gowda.
The Tamil spoken by Hassan Iyengars is Kannada-flavoured, and sounds suspect to the ears of their clansmen in Tamil Nadu. But if you were to hold a baking and confectionery contest between the two, the Kannadiga Iyengars would win hands down.
Every corner in southern Bangalore has an Iyengar bakery, although some newer enterprises, like Butter Sponge, have dropped the caste prefix. Most have names like LJ (Lakshmi Janardhana) and SLV (Sri Laksmi Venkateshwara).
For working couples and their children, the Iyengar bakeries were a godsend. Then the darshinis happened, Malayali Muslim bakeries arrived with their egg puffs, pizza outlets mushroomed, and Bangalore became, in the language of the metro supplements, hip and happening.
The Iyengar bakeries haven’t really vanished, but their ’70s glory is gone.
Anil Kumble was reportedly fond of dil khush and dil pasand, two sweets that most bakeries added to their menu in the late 1970s, when he was a student of National High School in Basavangudi.
In an ad, the Test captain appears against a Mediterranean backdrop with a wine glass in his hand and some fancy dish on his plate. Mistaken branding! He would have been a more convincing brand ambassador for the Iyengar bakeries, with a veg puff and a glass of badam milk in his hand.
My bakery favourites are the special bread (called ‘special’ because it has sugar, as against ‘ordinary’ which is bland), the spicy khara bun, the unbearably sweet benne biscuit (butter cookie), and the sunflower yellow-coloured badam burfi (a VB Bakery speciality).
I also used to like the apple cake, which I now understand is made from breadcrumbs and the previous days leftovers.
Iyengar bakeries offer good variety, but each item is a carb feast. The icing on their cakes, for instance, is too sugary. Their syrupy flavours are particularly attractive to the taste buds of school and college students, but many graduate to grilled sandwiches and gobi manchurian, which the Iyengar bakeries don’t make.
The best time to eat bakery stuff is three in the afternoon, when the stuff comes hot out of the Iyengar ovens. The bakers would do most of their work manually till 15 years ago, but machines have taken over now even for simple chores like slicing the loaves.
Growing up on bakery stuff is probably a nutritional disaster.
I have frequented an Iyengar bakery since I was in school, giving them steady business for their breads, buns (sweet and stuffed) and what they call pups (puffs). The bakers, who won’t eat what they make, remain young and fit, but I’ve greyed!
(S.R. Ramakrishna is the editor of MiD Day, Bangalore, where an earlier version of this piece originally appeared)
Photograph: courtesy Vikram Chadaga
Cross-posted on kosambari
There it is, the specialty of special bread versus the ordinary :)
I have had this question haunting for a while, were kannadiga brahmins a little underexposed to the tamil counterparts? Or was it the Tamil’s Bristish hobnobbing that just pushed them to being the cynosure of media’s eye?
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My folks have always got items from this place only. Wonder why it is closed nowadays? Making loss?
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Very interesting article!!
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Oh.. the joys of munching on kara buns on Lal Bagh express..
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Yeah I heard its closed these days. What reason – can anyone enlighten? Is it some litigation thing?
Another thing about the Jayanager 4th block Iyengar bakery was the strange queue system – or lack of it (same with any other bakery).
Whoever wanted the goodies stood along the counter (if space allowed) and tried to get some attention by saying out aloud what we wanted. As usual there were queue breakers, though they were discouraged by the kind people behind the counter.
I thought the people who enjoyed the treats the most were children who bought along their hard earned money to buy themselves a puff or palya bun, and labourers who came there after a hard days work to buy a pound of bread.
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Nice article that brings back memories, though I must say that Udupi restaurants (hotels) are also Karnataka’s culinary gift along with Iyengar bakeries.
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Oh this reminded me of my month-long trip down south looong ago, where I used to practically survive on that sweet bread thingie !
Glad to hear it is still available !!
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Iyengaar bakeries: bread is also good. Dilkush and dilpasands also great.
Badami milk Aryabhavan is great.
The author should have interviewed the owners of theIyengaar bakery, why and when they started their business, under what circumstances, instead of leaving it unanswered.
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It reminds me of an old joke by T.P.Kailasam.
A young and unemployed Iyengar boy went to Kailasam and requested to help him find a job. Kailasam, pointing to nearby Iyengar bakery, told him the shop was looking for Iyengars! (Bakery, in Kannada sounds, wanted. To Kailasam, Iyengar Bakery translated into Iyengars Wanted!)
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@baloo
that’s a nice piece.
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Two dozen Iyengar bakeries in Chennai ?? I guess the number will easily run into hundreds ! but I cannot vouchsafe most of the bakeries sporting the name Iyengar bakeries are really owned and run by Hebbar Iyengars.
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One more interesting thing. Iyengars run bakeries only in the Old Mysore region. There were 6-7 ‘ Bangalore Iyengar Bakeries ‘ in Madras in the early 1990s. Tamils attacked some of them during Cauvery riots. Now only two bakeries are left.
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There was one bakery in Mylapore, Chennai. I hear its still there. If i’m not mistaken, earlier it was named Mysore bakery. After Cauvery roits, it was renamed New Mylapore Bakery. Cream buns of that bakery used to be very nice.
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How Hassan, Bakery and Iyengars got linked to manufacture excellent bakery items — if some Iyengar throws some light, it will be interesting! Helps solve a mystery!!
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@Baloo
Our realstar Upendra uses the same anagram in his recently composed song: Chitrana chitrana.
HE goes on to say:
chur, chur chur, chur..churumuri,
Avale Nanage “Bakery” (wanted)
Abba ee jodi-ne chow, chow
Blimey! he also talks about churumuri!
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The one near MES college is popularly known as ‘IB’s- why not ” I’s B”, I wonder!
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I think the art of making bakery items was picked up from the Britishers and their bakeries of the once contonment area of Bangalore.
Our bakers Indianised those baked items by turning them into pure vegetarian items, except for the cakes. Benne Biscuit (Butter cookies) was the first of such Bakery Item to be popularized.
Most probably the label of Iyengars was required to attract vegetarian customers, in order to proclaim that this is not the regular British stuff but vegetarian.
For south India, Bangalore was the starting point of Bakeries Iyengar’s was a required label and it could be a misnomer too.
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Iyengar bakeries were always a novelty, even for the Iyengars of Mylapore!
The brand has stuck though and I have found many even in interior Tamil Nadu not run by Iyengars, leave alone Hebbar folk.
@Vishwas Krishna
It *could* be the one wedged between Luz Circle and Anand Sarovar down below:
http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=13.0368836&lon=80.267626&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2&search=luz%20circle
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All the grilled sandwiches cant match the toast-slice (carrot, menasinakayi, tomato palya on bread). Absolutely tasty. I would still anyday prefer the iyengar bakery stuff than the mushrooming nilgiris/coffe day kind of stuff.
Sad part is both in reality and in perception (in perception, greater fall than in reality), the Iyengar bakeries have lost their stand on the pedestal. It requires a modern touch without losing the intrinsic flavour.
As someone mentioned about Kailasam it should not be the case of “Olle Iyengar bakery. baeku ree Aadre yelli siguththe ree?”
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one more info. All these Iyengars came from Bailahalli. Lakshmi janardhana is village deity.
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In Madras, there were a lot of bakeries started by the Iyengars. They always named Bangalore Bakery or Bangalore iyengars bakery. However almost more than 15 years ago there was some clash between tamizhians and kannadigas and all the bakeries changed their name to something local and the charm had its end…….
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Iyengar’s bakeries are seen in Tamilnadu in plenty like in karnataka but anyone can start with the name and it is freely available for promotion of their business.The quality of products available from such bakeries is below average in Tamilnadu.
But the superior sweet of India is made from Karnataka only and from Udupi, the Udupi Halwa and even the Badam-Almond items of North could only be second to the Udupi Halwa.In one occasion I got a few packets in Udupi and after tasting it , I ordered by demand draft to get 20 packets to distribute among my friends and relatives.Everyone admired the next day that they had just came across a great quality sweet in their life!
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Very nice article. It was some time since Churmuri gave us something like this.
I love Iyengar’s Bakeries too. Mainly for their freshness. If you notice most of their stock is over by 7:30-8:00 pm and you have new and fresh stock next day. They are innovative and keep improvising in their products as well! Especially with the likes of Palya (aloo) buns, capsicum puffs etc… They also have a variety of Khaaara items.
I feel it is these qualities that has kept the chains like Sweet Chariot and Nilgiri’s cake shop at bay.
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tksbhat – Is bailahalli in Hassan district? I remember some bakeries named as ‘Lakshmijanardhana Iyengar Bakery’.
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One of the oldest Iyengar bakeries in the state (World!?) is in Shimoga. Srinivasa Iyengar bakery is already 110 years old. It was established in the late 19th century. Davanagere also has a century old Iyengar bakery.
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This articles reminded me of my Vijay times Days, also i would like to add to the menu of ayengar bakery, dum rott and honey cake, which are my favourites. Raghu, my freind used to come to VT in the pretext of meeting me and take me to VB bakery to relish dum rott and honey cake…
long live bomman bakery
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>>Iyengar’s bakeries are seen in Tamilnadu in plenty like in karnataka but anyone can start with the name and it is freely available for promotion of their business>>
Gounder Sahebare,
It is the same story everywhere, Tamils are (mis) using the “Udupi” name in restaurants and serve “Mullgawtaney” soup in US…LOL. Good observation btw
Regards,
Kannadiga:)
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>>one more info. All these Iyengars came from Bailahalli. Lakshmi janardhana is village deity>>
There are also lot of Iyengars hailing from Ramanathapura and Nuggehalli who own Iyengar bakeries..
Where they come from does not matter…as long as I get those yummy vegetable puffs and dilpasands :)
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Gouri Satya Sir,
Most of the Iyengar bakeries are run by Hebbar Iyengars (a sub sect of Iyengars) and most of them have their roots in Hassan.
About the link between Iyengars and Hassan, My guess is that, it dates back to the time, Iyengars migrated from Chola Kingdom in present TN, following Sri Ramanujacharya’s footsteps, followed by generations thereafter.
As you may be aware, SriRamanuja had to leave SriRangam and temporarily setteled in Hoysala Kingdom/Melkote due to the AntiVaishnavism practised by Chola kings during that time.
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My schooldays were never complete without eating plum buns, ie sweet bun with plums and kara puff, one of the uncle or aunts use to provide the cash and its taste cannot substitute the best wine I can afford now. I only hope when my son grows up I can take him to one and get him all that he wants. Lets hope the practice of aping the west in lifestyle does not make these iyengar joints become history.
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Dear Mr. Kiran,
Thanks for enlightening me on the Hassan link.
I know Iyengars migrated to Melkote (to be precise Thonnur – Thonanuru) following the footsteps Sri Ramanuja.
Was it an Iyengar from Hassan who set up the first ‘Brahmin Bakery’ and called it ‘Iyengar’s Bakery’. Bakery products manufactured/sold by the British (Christians) were shunned by Hindus in those days and it appears Hassan Iyengars stepped into manufacture/sale of bakery products at that juncture and called their bakeries as ‘Iyengar Bakeries’. A few of the Iyengars subsequently named their bakeries as ‘Lakshmi Janardhana Iyengar Bakery’ and non-Iyengars called their bakeries as ‘Brahmin Bakery’.
Any input/corrections into this most welcome.
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There used to be a bakery in Gandhi Bazaar called ‘Shyamala Bakery’.Unfortunately the owner had named the bakery in his daugter’s name Shyamala.This created quite a problem for her as Khiladis would shout ‘shymala bekree!!’ ( we want Shyamala ) whenever she passed by!
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The Hindu described the bakeries in madras as ”iyengar” bakeries when the bakery owners were intimidated in 1991.They have little to do with iyengars.Almost impossible for ordinary kannadigas in madras.
Tamil chauvinism has been exposed thoroughly by the speeches in rameswaram.Time for kannadigas to step up their demand for hogenakal and ooty,if possible hosur as well.
Great News: Kannada accorded classical language status.These are worthless issues.But tamil chauvinists will be enraged. So nice.
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For lovers of bakery products – There are two Iyengar bakeries, one in Wilson Garden (Siddaiah Road) and one in Koramangala (near Canara Bank), which sell quality products.
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@12th_man
I’m not sure. I have actually forgotten the landmarks of Mylapore. But I remember very well that this bakery, which I’m talking about was opposite to a petrol bunk situated on the main road of Mylapore. Right behind the mylapore bus stop.
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Oh man :)
This piece put a big wide grin on my face. Thanks for writing this. I have two Iyengar bakeries within a stones throw from my house! The bliss of smelling the voluptuous aroma of freshly baked stuff is just unspeakable. I feel so lucky! These bakeries just transport you back to a simpler world. I particularly like the toast slices with carrot and onion!
Your article just made me realise how fortunate I am to live where I do right now!
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a lot many bakeries in mysore are pretty old and famous too………
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Hi….for all those people.. who are arguing that the bakeries are run by hebbar iyengars……… lemme tell u .. that im a hebbar iyengar… and.. wish to confirm that.. hebbar iyengars DO NOT run bakeries…. like someone said above.. its run by a sub-sect among iyengars.. called..”bread iyengars” in slang.. .or…. “ramnathpura iyengars”,,,,,or………”bailalli iyengars” from hassan district….. yes… their family deity is bailalli lakshmi janardhana,,,, most iyengars in karnataka are as kannada as other people in this state are! we owe everything to this state and culture… cheers……
proud kannadiga.
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thalassery bakery are the best when it comes to cakes and bakery in general in south india. sadly, mapplas of north malabar are using this name to make bakeries in every part of the country originally belonged to thiyya caste there(equal to ballalas).quality is what is lacking: ( .
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Try using stevia for sweetness.its ideal for sportsman, calorie conscious, athletes and diabetics.
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You’ve made me so darn nostalgic now :(
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Sooper article :) Reminds me of the Raghavendra Bakery, VB Bakery, Pattabhiramans Bakery and Krishna Bakery of Mysore which have still not lost their old world charm! Cheers.
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Iyengar bakery Iyengars are all NOT Hebbar Iyengars. But we are real proud of Iyengar Bakeries. They are OUR brand and we do Identify with them !!
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The “bread Iyengars” as we call them, were innovative to bring western foods to the conservative Indian palate. My widowed great grandmother never ate outside the home, the only occasional exception was foods from Iyengar bakery. The clientele included iyengars from Karnataka, TN, or AP. This cachet was kosher for our super orthodox elders to partake in something different. I wanted to share this insider information. I cannot speak for others, but occasionally even superorthodox grandfolk from Iyengar families partook in Iyengar bakery products.
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stumbled upon your blog, I am basically from Karnaraka, I am proud to say I am a kannadiga too.., But I am an Iyengar by birth and belong to the family of bakers as you have mentioned and I come from the same place called Bylehalli, Iyengars are made up of lot of subsects, People coming from Hassan Districts – around the places you have mentioned are some of them Hebbar Iyengars too..My Grandmother was a Hebbar Iyengar but My Dad did not have a Bakery but my Uncles have, and then our families are distributed around all those places you have mentioned, I have few cousins who have bakeries in Chennai and surrounding places too…, It’s only the younger generation who do not want to continue with that anymore are moving away from the business. As you all love the Iyengar Bakery goodies, I too grew up eating them.., What a wonderful post, makes me feel very Homely….thanks. You’ve made me Nostalgic…
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There is a bakery near the old Shanthi Talkies. It is run by an industrial engineer. The fresh baked products are sold out by 3:30pm. Super food.
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Check http://www.iyengarsbakery.com. A whole new iyengar experience
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