Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

suni51 wrote:

During my long stay in South India I used to visit Udupi Restaurants that served rice on Banana Leaf. They also provided water to clean it and then one waiter in white ban and shirt would clean it with white cloth and another one would serve rice and yet another rasam and then another one the Sambhar and the list goes on. I once stayed with one of my new Brahmin friends near Kalngunte beach. I was served food in their kitchen on a banana leaf and I thoroughly enjoyed the way her mom treated and fed me . I was only 25 then but I still remember that evening. We played table tennis in her sports room where her mom and dad also participated. I won't take her name  but her surname was Deshpande and she worked in Survey of India. By the way, I was a trainee sales engineer then posted in Belgaum.    

There are still  many restaurants here in Mangalore and other smaller towns where they serve meals on banana leaves. They only have meals and nothing else on the menu.. there is a very popular resyrestau here where they serve a set vegetarian meal on banana leaf and you can order side dishes like chicken sukka ,fried fish,prawns ghee roast etc..

There are some specialty restaurants in Pune that serve on Banana leaves. As Pune is growing fast from all sides, most plantations and farms are being razed down and it is getting harder and harder to find banana leaves. In fact they have now become an item of luxury. During Ganpati and Gauri poojan, when I want to serve the specially prepared Naivedya, I have to buy a single Banana leaf for anything from Rs. 30-50! The people selling these have a fine season and make a lot of money!

Fortunately we have number of banana trees in our garden and in nearby houses as well park in front of our house so getting a banana leaf is not a problem here. Yes, we also use banana leaves for distributing prasad (Called kasar and charnamrat) on certain special puja occasions especially "Satya Naryana Katha" in our area. 

We too have plenty of Banana plants and it is quite cheap if you have to buy , a whole bunch of 50 leaves available for 20 or 30 rupees..

In southern states, one need not wait for festival or occasion but can eat any time the food served on banana leaf. These leaves are eco-friendly and it is considered to be a healthy ritual.

I have attended two Parsi weddings and dinner including chicken was served on banana leaves

I am locking this thread for further discussion now. Thanks for the nice discussion and input coming from all the learned members.