The Changing Face of Northeastern Food Industry: Tanisha Phanbuh Shares Her Insights

In this interview, Shillong-based Tanisha Phanbuh, a north eastern food connoisseur, a self-taught food expert shares her inspiration behind her venture, Tribal Gourmet, and how it helps showcase the diversity of India’s North-Eastern region to the rest of the world. She talks about her self-taught expertise in the world of food and how it has helped her establish herself in the industry. Tanisha also shares her experience as a participant in Master Chef India Season 6, her go-to food type and her favorite ingredient. She advises aspiring culinary entrepreneurs to work at different outlets of different cuisines and genres to understand the ropes of the industry. 

1. What is your inspiration behind your current venture, Tribal Gourmet? How does this platform help showcase the diversity of India’s North-Eastern region to the rest of the world? 

Tribal Gourmet was created after my first TV show - Femme Foodies - after which I observed that many people pan India knew very little about North-eastern Cuisine and so I thought that this could be my purpose, showcasing and being the voice of the Northeast; to speak about the food, culture, traditions and storytelling of the legends. In more recent times I also realized that Meghalaya, my home State is quite underrepresented at least in the culinary field as compared to the other North-eastern States and hence I decided to concentrate on Meghalaya. 

I have been taking small steps from the inception of Tribal Gourmet as a brand in 2017, by doing pop-ups, writing articles and participating in collaborations wherever there were opportunities. Apart from pop-ups that require the physical presence of people I had also done delivery during the pandemic. I also try to use social media to put out various nuggets of information about the Northeast food, culture, traditions and stories and with this, I hope to give people all over India and the world a glimpse of our culture even if they are far away. This year I am working on taking Tribal Gourmet to restaurants and Hotels too and also doing small bespoke tables at home.

2. How does your self-taught expertise in the world of food help you establish yourself in the industry? 

I come from a family that has nurtured a love for food, art and history through the generations and hence I am very proud that I am self-taught and have not attended Hospitality College or trained professionally. Although I have worked in the hospitality industry, it has never been in the kitchen. I think it's only very natural, especially in the world of art where one has studied under a particular artist or one is studying in a particular reputed institution that they tend to take some inspiration and style of that and it reflects in their work.  As a self-taught multidisciplinary artist, I feel like since I do not have any one Institution or Mentor or an artist/chef whom I have trained under I feel like I have the freedom to express myself and my food or my work the way I want to as my thoughts are not trained to go a certain way. 

3. How was your experience like, as a participant in Master Chef India Season 6? 

Each of the TV shows that I have done has taught me and given me a new set of friends and they've each been different in their own way. I've learned different lessons from each of them. Femme Foodies was a very different kind of show - it was an all-girl food truck show shot in Goa where we were on the move every day for every episode. Cooking on food trucks was a whole different experience as cooking in the open combating all the natural elements was challenging but it was a super fun and creative experience. 

[Text Wrapping Break]MasterChef on the other hand obviously has a set template that they follow globally and hence there is a proper studio set, there's a full-fledged equipped kitchen and pantry and a system to it which was a different experience altogether. A lot of my tricks learned along the way were from watching all of the global Masterchef Series from across the world and hence I was just very excited to be on MasterChef India because it had always been a dream. 

4. What is your go-to food type? 

I do not have any particular favorite go-to kind of food because I have grown up eating all types of Cuisines thanks to my mother who's also a food lover and has always liked to try new dishes so I have grown up around a lot of Cuisines and a lot of regional Cuisines as well from all of her friends being from the different tribal communities and so I don't have any favorites but on days I can't decide on what to cook or what to eat then I lean towards Asian. 

5. From then to now, how have the north-eastern food industry changed? 

A lot of the younger generations are smarter, more tech-savvy and also more focused with their goals. The youth that are passing out from Ihm's are focused on what they want to do whether they want to go back to their hometowns and establish their name and a restaurant there or whether they want to do internships under big names.  People, in general, are more accepting of Northeastern cuisine now because everybody has an adventurous palette and hence North Eastern food is actually well received  

6. What is the USP or special ingredient used by you in your cooking? 

My favorite ingredient to use is black sesame as I think it is very versatile, I can put it in any course sweet or savory and it was actually pointed out by Chef Ranveer Brar during the first show where he was a judge that it seems to be my lucky charm so I always carry it with me wherever I go. Other than that I also use and promote Lakadong Turmeric. 

7. What advice would you give to aspiring culinary entrepreneurs looking to establish themselves in the industry? 

Think of what you want to achieve and work your way towards that. If you think that you would like to study the industry properly then yes IHM is definitely a good base where you learn the basics after which it's always best to work and learn on the job so apply for internships everywhere. Many young pass outs and chefs who have just worked at a restaurant or two get carried away in the excitement and want to do their own thing but I would strongly suggest that working at different outlets of different cuisines and genres will really help them understand the ropes of the industry, what is not taught at IHM's, how restaurants are run, how they are set-up and to work smart.