Emirates Wishes All Travellers 'Onashamsakal; With Special Onam Festive Menus And Films

Emirates is marking the Kerala harvest season with a variety of traditional treats and Malayalam movies onboard. Until 16 September 2024, passengers on flights to and from Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai can enjoy authentic Onam dishes across all cabin classes.

Travellers on the 14 weekly Emirates flights to Kochi and the 7 weekly flights to Thiruvananthapuram will be treated to menus featuring the distinctive flavours of Onam. This initiative aims to give passengers a taste of home while they travel.

Onboard Culinary Delights

Emirates customers can start their meal with traditional appetisers such as sharkara upperi, which is banana roasted in sweet jaggery, kaya varuthathu or crisp banana chips, and kondattam mulaku, fried sundried chillies steeped in yoghurt. Essential dips for Onam like kaalan made from coconut, fresh yoghurt and yam, cucumber pachadi - a garnished salad, and puli inji – a sweet and tangy ginger-based chutney are also available. First and Business Class passengers will additionally receive Kerala-style pappadam and piquant mango pickle.

Main courses include alleppey kozhi curry - spiced chicken in coconut sauce served with avial, chemba rice, and cabbage carrot thoran. Vegetarian options feature sambar and kootu paired with matta rice and carrot pea thoran. Other choices are spiced chicken sukha with steamed rice, carrot pea thoran, vegetable kootu, or mutton sukha with chemba rice, erissery, and bean thoran. First Class travellers have the added option of mutton pepper fry.

Sweet Endings

Desserts include Onam favourites like palada pradhaman - creamy rice pudding topped with roasted pistachios, raisins, and cashew nuts or parippu payasam - sweet lentil pudding garnished with roasted coconut flakes. Meals are served on banana leaf dish liners to enhance the authenticity of the sadhya experience for Keralites.

Entertainment Options

To make the journey even more memorable during Onam celebrations, Emirates offers over 6,500 channels of entertainment on its award-winning ice system. This includes more than 45 Academy Award winning films, over 2,000 movies, 650 TV shows, and 4,000 hours of music, podcasts, and audiobooks across 40 languages. Among these are 17 Malayalam movies including award-winning titles like "2018," "Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey," as well as blockbusters like "RDX: Robert Dony Xavier" and "Kannur Squad."

Emirates is known for celebrating various global cultures inflight by offering regionally inspired cuisine and special seasonal menus. The airline celebrates festivals such as Diwali, Eid, Chinese New Year, Christmas, Oktoberfest, Easter alongside Onam. These efforts create thoughtful experiences for travellers from around the world.

This initiative by Emirates not only enhances the travel experience but also brings a piece of home to Keralites flying during this festive season.