Bullish on India | Vision@2047: The road to Northeast-inclusive India goes via food

The venue is a fine-dining restaurant at an upscale hotel in Central Delhi. On other days, it serves a standard North Indian menu. However, for the few nights in question, the kitchen has been prepped to dish out unique dishes all the way from the far north-eastern state of Meghalaya. As diners gather to treat their palates to the novel tastes of an unfamiliar cuisine, the excitement is palpable and appreciation is liberally doled out.

Tanisha Phanbuh

Such was the scene at a Meghalaya food pop-up hosted by Shillong-native Tanisha Phanbuh in the capital recently. Having settled in Delhi for almost a decade, Phanbuh realised early on that Northeastern food is rarely talked about outside the region, most simply due to a lack of awareness. She figured that she had to do her part in spreading the word about her culture and cuisine. That’s how Tribal Gourmet was born, an initiative to familiarise one with the Northeast’s food, culture and identity, with a focus on her home state Meghalaya.

It’s no secret that north-east India still feels isolated from the so-called mainland — politically, socially, culturally. Much of this can be attributed to a general lack of awareness. But the good news is that there is a growing interest among ‘mainlanders’ now to know more about this once remote region of the country. And a lot of it has to do with travel and food. More and more people are venturing out to explore the Northeast beyond its stunning landscapes. For those who can’t or haven’t travelled there, initiatives like Tribal Gourmet and others are bringing the region’s varied cuisines to the big cities — and in the process, generating awareness in the land, its people and their unique local cultures and traditions.

Phanbuh, for instance, has hosted a series of experiences over the years, including a month-long pop-up of Northeastern bar snacks, a massive regional brunch of over 40 dishes, home-delivery menus during the pandemic, and curated tables focussed on Meghalaya’s food at fine-dining restaurants. “My idea is to stay a pop-up kitchen, for it enables me to take my food places and allows me to be flexible with my creativity in the food I present,” says Phanbuh, whose food spotlights presentation and technique for an evolved palate. “It would give me immense joy to see, one day, a majority of the country tasting, talking about and acknowledging our cuisines at the same level as India’s more popular cuisines of the north or south — and to know that I played my small part in advocating our rich heritage.”

Sisters Daki and Daphi at Symbai Goya Popup. (Photo: Goya Journal)

What is really encouraging is the fact that Phanbuh’s isn’t the only initiative working towards the cause. People across metros are now getting to savour the nuanced cuisines of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and more, thanks to pop-ups, special menus and collaborations with interesting spaces that go beyond the typical restaurant setup. Symbai, meaning ‘seed’ in Khasi, is one such initiative by sisters Daphimanroi Warjri and Dakiwanri Warjri that is promoting Khasi food with such collaborations.

“Most people in big cities tend to group all the Northeastern states and their cultures and cuisines under one umbrella. But each state is widely different from the other, and even within each state, the food culture and customs vary between different communities or tribes,” says Daphi. But the sisters are hopeful of the direction Northeast’s cuisines is taking in the context of Indian food at large.

Since their first ever pop-up for a bunch of friends in Pondicherry, they’ve gone on to do collaborative pop-ups in Mumbai and Hyderabad with the likes of reputed food culture publication Goya Journal and homegrown luxury furniture brand Freedom Tree. “I think it’s safe to credit the food industry’s general shift in interest towards local produce and native ingredients for the growing eagerness to learn about and experience Northeast’s food diversity,” says Daki.

The buck doesn’t stop at just pop-ups. In Mumbai, top restaurants such as Tresind and Bombay Canteen are putting local dishes from the Northeast, such as black sesame chicken and Khasi pork pao, on their menus. Many conscious restaurants across India are now using ingredients such as turmeric, native grains and other produce sourced from the Northeast, with some establishments going out of their way to engage with the communities and farmers directly.

Symbai Goya Popup. (Photo: Goya Journal)

The Gurgaon-based ingredient-forward OMO Café, helmed by chef Vanshika Bhatia known for her efforts in reviving native cuisines and regional culinary practices, is one such case in point. Bhatia and her team conducted an immersive foraging experience in Nagaland earlier this year, with the intention of diving deep into the basics of Naga cuisine in its original environment, building relationships with farmers and growers, and learning indigenous cooking techniques firsthand from the custodians who carry the traditions forward generation after generation.

Chef Vanshika Bhatia OMO Cafe, Gurgaon.

“The land there is brimming with ingredients that nature and weather provide, and the cuisine works in perfect harmony with it. Each dish, each meal showcases the seasons on the plate — whether it’s delicately pairing peppery Sichuan leaves with the fattiness of smoked pork, or making a fresh salad of foraged greens, soaked beans and perilla seeds,” Bhatia says.

(From left) Caramelized Naga Banana with burnt onion Salsa; Black Rice steamed cake with timur beurre; Yam root and shoot with black sesame sauce and sourdough at OMO Cafe, Gurgaon.

The trip resulted in the curation of different menus to highlight Naga cuisine to the café’s patrons. Recently, they also did an entirely millet-based menu dedicated to the variety of millets sourced from Nagaland. Bhatia adds, “For us as chefs to explore these less explored parts of the country offers an opportunity to learn about the diversity of the land and get inspired by it. We hope that initiatives like ours will bring awareness to these unique and amazing cuisines.”

For a country as diverse as India, in the 100th year since independence by 2047, and to hope to be designated a developed nation eventually, it would mean that every region, every state is brought into the fold of developmental goals. The Northeast is especially strategic towards this end, and making it more inclusive within the larger Indian fabric should be a norm. Food is just the starting point to achieving that, for along with food comes conversations and dialogues, and hopefully viable actions.

(From left) Sha bad ja panacotta; Tomato fish curry with perilla & ceviche; chicken dish by Tanisha Phanbuh.

As Phanbuh says, “I can only try my best to break down the barriers and stereotypes and foster a better understanding and greater appreciation of India’s culturally diverse landscape. I try to be present at each table interacting with guests, talking about the region, the background of the dish so that guests are not left feeling lost in navigating a menu that is new to them. With every pop-up, I aim to share the tastes and knowledge of my food to a new set of people, and in the process hope to build new bridges with the rest of the country.”