Onam is Kerala's biggest festival - a harvest celebration marked with flower arrangements, boat races in some parts of the state, and, most relevantly here, an elaborate feast called Sadhya. It's worth understanding, because it sits directly behind a lot of what makes Herb's everyday cooking what it is.
What Onam actually celebrates
Onam marks the annual harvest in Kerala and is celebrated across the state regardless of religion - it's a cultural festival as much as a religious one. Homes are decorated with intricate flower arrangements called pookalam, and the centrepiece of the day is a shared vegetarian feast.
What a Sadhya actually is
A Sadhya is a large, entirely vegetarian meal traditionally served on a banana leaf, made up of a long list of small dishes - often twenty or more - served together rather than in courses. It's the same underlying idea as a thali, scaled up considerably: rice as the base, with sambar, various vegetable curries, pickles, papadum and sweets surrounding it.
The connection to Herb's everyday menu
Herb doesn't serve a full Sadhya as a daily menu item, but the tradition it comes from is exactly the one the kitchen draws on every day. Pothichoru - the banana-leaf wrapped rice meal served at Herb - reflects the same serving style, just scaled for one person rather than a feast. The Kerala thali follows the same logic too: several dishes, one plate, meant to be eaten together.
Why this matters beyond the festival itself
Onam is a useful lens for understanding Kerala food generally - it's not built around a single showpiece dish the way some cuisines are, but around variety and balance across many smaller dishes served at once. That's the same principle behind Herb's thali, and arguably behind Kerala vegetarian cooking as a whole.
Try it for yourself
Our guide to what a Kerala thali actually is is the closest everyday equivalent to a Sadhya-style meal, and a good way to experience the same idea on a normal visit to either branch.
FAQ
What is Onam?
Onam is Kerala's biggest annual harvest festival, traditionally marked with a large vegetarian feast called Sadhya.
What is a Sadhya?
A Sadhya is a large, entirely vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf, made up of many small dishes served together - similar in spirit to a thali, but larger and more elaborate.
Does Herb serve Sadhya-style food?
Herb's everyday menu draws on the same Kerala vegetarian tradition that Sadhya comes from, including dishes like pothichoru that reflect that banana-leaf serving style.
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