Bamboo chicken ushers tourists in, keeps Maoists out
VIJAYAWADA: The dense forests of Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari Agency, once a safe haven for outlawed Left wing ultras – things came to a head with the kidnapping of eight IAS officers on December 27, 1987, at Gurthedu – is now a peaceful place with visitors from all over the state visiting it.
The reason for the turnaround is chicken; to be precise, bamboo chicken – a local tribal delicacy that has caught the fancy of foodies from far and wide.
The origins of the dish are unclear, as are the specifics of how news of it spread to other parts of the state, but no one denies its role in ridding the area of insurgents owing allegiance to the Communist Party of India (Maoist), although there is some debate on the centrality of this role. The theory is that the popularity of the dish attracted visitors, mainstreaming the area, and reducing its remoteness – thereby making it less attractive for insurgents.
“I started practising law in Rampachodavaram a year before the kidnapping of IAS officers before I shifted to Rajahmundry,” says Palla Trinadha Rao, an advocate.
According to him , the influx of visitors drawn by the chicken was accompanied by an increase in road and mobile networks in the area. “With hardly any village inaccessible to communication network, the Agency can no longer be treated as remote nowadays,” he adds. Bamboo chicken is prepared by stuffing chicken in a fresh bamboo shoot and slowcooking it over charcoal.
Connoisseurs swear by the aroma, tenderness and suppleness of the meat that has stewed in its own juices within the bamboo.
The retreat of the Maoists from the East Godavari Agency to the Andhra-odisha border, about 150km away, can mainly be attributed to bamboo chicken stalls flooding the area, says Kallu Srinivas, a local activist fighting for tribal rights.
Additional superintendent of police Rahul Dev Singh confirms that the Agency tracts have been completely free of the movements of armed squads of Maoists, but attributes this to police action, among other factors.
Maredumilli, located in the heart of East Godavari’s Agency area with Rampachodavaram as its Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) headquarters, has now become a picnic spot with bustling crowds, especially over the weekend, with the main draw being the chicken.
The dish, which was initially popular in the Araku area of Visakhapatnam Agency, was introduced by a Kondreddy tribal families that settled in the East Godavari Agency; they also introduced their own variation and spices.