Just recently, Tamil actor/director Radhakrishnan Parthiban said in an interview that upma is his favourite dish. He went on give several reasons why his taste buds love it. According to Parthiban, this one pot dish is easy to make and is often a poor man's chosen food item. "Many assistant directors survive only on upma even today," The Hindu quoted him as saying.
This South Indian breakfast dish is famous around the world. A few years ago, reality cooking show Top Chef's judges declared Indian origin contestant Floyd Cardoz as the winner of $100,000. However, the dish isn't popular back home.
In the days after Tamil actor/director Radhakrishnan Parthiban said upma should become the national dish of India, a controversy was created. News channels gave away prime time slots to discuss the future of upma. People wondered if the dish is even worthy of the title.
And others aka most Indians who couldn’t appear on TV made their views heard on Twitter. If you want to know what the nation thinks of upma, several tweets capture those thoughts perfectly. Here’s presenting #TeamUpma and whatever team that opposes it.
Upma is just rava idli that didn't go to MBA school.
— Lord Morningwood (@dangertoon) June 20, 2017What is the opposite of upma?
A tasty breakfast.
Upma sucks. Please don't make it our national dish. I propose one of these:
— Sapan Verma (@sapanv) June 20, 2017Anyone who professes to dislike upma, you just haven't had a good one.
— Maith Iyengar (@maith_i) June 20, 2017When there's nothing else to outrage about .. there's always upma. Anyway maybe upma is sad.. but uppiT is legit. 😂
— Ramya (@ramyaprakash) June 20, 2017Yo upma haters, made this just now. #OnePotOneShot #upma pic.twitter.com/7fzv9hnHRd
— செந்தில் / Chenthil (@chenthil_nathan) June 20, 2017i love the riding the rails 🚂
but certainly a modicum of the upma hate on indian twitter can be attributed to shatabdi upma? 🤔
Of course upma for national dish. Always serve it with love. pic.twitter.com/KX4niSzUMj
— N.S. Madhavan (@NSMlive) June 21, 2017Upma sucks because it looks too much like halwa and isn't halwa.
— Anirudh Singh (@ReallyTallTales) June 11, 2017How to avoid Upma ft. Plastic Rava. #win
Credits to the Meme Creator. https://t.co/GfL6PtugHz
I was crushing on this girl but then she said I prefer upma over poha. She ain't my crush anymore.
— Aditya Tare (@adityaatare) June 11, 2017Anti upma Twitter is the only Twitter you need.
— Kazarelth (@Kazarelth) June 11, 2017Make upma great again
— Chhal ki baat (@The0Hour) June 10, 2017There was Upma for breakfast today. Politely refused cause the banana and apple cereal at work is the bomb
— DeeSee (@BeingDeeSee) June 11, 2017