Craving for some Naga carabeef? Now get it at your doorstep

For the several lakh residents from the North East living in Bengaluru, cultural acclimatisation is an everyday challenge. 

 

The hardest part is adjusting to the food. Northeastern cuisine is vastly different from the standard fare available in cities such as Bengaluru.

 

 

 

And considering the chances of procuring many of the ingredients of the Northeast kitchen such as fermented bamboo shoots or a variety of smoked meats is pretty slim, making traditional recipes at home too is not easy.  

 

To get an idea of how large the divide is, the distance from Manipur to Bengaluru is a whopping 3000 km. Dubai is closer. 

 

There are a few restaurants in the city that serve 'authentic' northeastern cuisine, mostly in and around Koramangala. However, these are pretty expensive to be an everyday option.  But three Nagas from Manipur are looking to correct this anomaly with a new (what else?) startup called FoodYez.  

 

FoodYez is an app through which you can get a variety of Northeastern foods and ingredients home delivered. 

 

A software professional by day, Reisang Risom runs FoodYez with his brother Yarthing Risom (25) and Kazip Lungleng (22) - a relative. The tiny, self-funded startup focuses on one thing - providing northeastern food at an affordable price. 

Speaking to Asianet Newsable, Reisang, who is a Tangkhul Naga from the town of Ukhrul in Manipur, said that the idea came to him when he noticed that most northeastern natives, including himself, had to order their local foods from the homeland. 

 

 

Naturally, these parcels would take more than a week to reach Bengaluru and the agents who procured the items charged exorbitant rates-- sometimes with a 100% markup. 

 

"No one likes to wait a week to eat something, and the prices were making these dishes rare treats. So we thought of addressing these twin gaps. We deliver the same day, and our food is priced in such way that they can be a part of your daily meal," Resiang said. 

 

There are over 30 items on the menu, and soon the entrepreneurs plan to add ready-to-eat food for college-goers and working professionals.

 

Reising was candid in identifying his market's needs. "We aren't a very rich community. For most, even ₹100 matters. So we want to provide them with something they can buy without having to think twice about their monthly budget," he said. 

 

 

 

 

 

The dishes on offer via the app, include dried banana stems and shoots, dried yam leaves, fermented bamboo shoots, dry and fermented soya beans, and Indian taro. Among pickles, there's eggplant, shredded buffalo meat and sliced pork. They also have dry, diced buffalo and pork meat as snacks. 

 

A sampling of the pickles left us red-faced indeed. It is delicious and a treat for those who like their food XXL spicy.  

 

You can check out their offerings via their app - FoodYez, which is available in the Apple App Store for iOS and Google Play store for Android mobiles.