Jharkhand’s tribal cuisine gets a trendy twist

Phutkal chutney, jamun khukhri mushrooms, beng saag, maar jhor… Not the food preparations you may expect to see on a well-laid table. Well, you would certainly be proven wrong – and be delighted by it – if you head to The Open Field on the outskirts of Ranchi, where these and more such tribal cuisine from Jharkhand make the impressive menu. 

The Open Field came about when a group of professionals from diverse sectors came together to bring their indigenous heritage to the mainstream. Set on a 10-acre farm at Ghasibari near Khunti, this agro-tourism project offers farm stays, immersion workshops and culinary experiences that focus on local empowerment and sustainable practices.

“The Open Field can be called a ‘rural business hub’ as it creates an economic ecosystem engaging hundreds of villagers,” said Dr Manisha Oraon, a dentist who co-founded the initiative in 2018 with her aviator husband Kumar Abhishek Oraon, and their friend Prateek Toppo, a mechanical engineer by education. 

The venture engages villagers to work as food processors, marketers and cultural ambassadors, Oraon said. The 33-year-old, who belongs to the Oraon tribe, was born and brought up in Ranchi and often thought about her roots that lie in Bishunpur village of Gumla district in Jharkhand.

“We have to be proud of our traditional food and cooking practices,” Oraon made a passionate appeal in front of the local audience at a recent event held at Torpa in Khunti district of the state, which was attended by Village Square team members. 

The event, organised by Torpa Rural Development Society for Women, an NGO working for women’s empowerment, featured talks with villagers about their success stories, a display and sale of local seed varieties and handicraft products, and a sumptuous lunch arranged by The Open Field team. 

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Served on a large bamboo thali, the spread included local brown rice, jackfruit sabzi made using the local recipe and madwa (finger millet) roti, among other dishes. Each delicacy opened a window to the richness of the traditional natural ingredients that form the tribal cuisine from Jharkhand, the taste buds waking up with a rush of flavours with every dab of the sweet-and-tangy kudrum (roselle) chutney or the tart phutkal chutney made with dried leaves of Ficus geniculata. With gentle sips of maar jhor (spiced rice starch drink), we relished every item, leaving the little earthen bowls wiped clean. 

The experience at The Open Field is, of course, more expansive. The menu features ‘contemporary tribal cuisine’ with both vegetarian and non-veg fare, the latter including desi chicken, mutton and fish preparations. Special effort has been made to revive the use of wild produce such as beng (Indian pennywort) leaves, jirhul (Indigofera cassioides) flowers and jamun khukhri (Boletus edulis) mushrooms in the recipes. Also available are wines made with locally-grown fruits such as jamun, peach or strawberry. 

“A typical visitor at the farm can spend the entire day at prices that start from Rs 500,” Oraon said. 

Prices for their signature offering, the ‘tribal thali’, start at Rs 500 and go up to Rs 1,200 per person while a seven-course fine dining experience comes for Rs 1,800 each.

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Visitors can also take a stroll at the rose plantation at the farm, which is one of the largest in the state, Oraon said. The farm stay option also allows visitors to camp at the site, take a guided farm tour and interact more closely with the local community. Overnight camping inclusive of dinner, bonfire and star gazing costs Rs 1,200 per person. 

Talking about how the project came about, Oraon recalled, “We had several ‘light bulb moments’ when we were working outside Jharkhand.” 

What struck them was the unavailability of Jharkhand products in the metro cities which have a big diaspora from the state, unawareness of Jharkhand tribal cuisine even in the local market, and similar international products becoming popular in the Indian market. 

“But the most important realisation was that we wanted to tell our story to the world,” she stressed.

Starting as a completely bootstrapped venture, The Open Field later got aid in the form of recognition by the tourism and industries departments of the state government, while the Jharkhand State Tribal Cooperative Development Corporation supported it in the form of a subsidised loan. The endeavour turned profitable in the third year, and the annual turnover has been increasing, rising from Rs 10 lakh to crossing Rs 50 lakh now.

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“We are also focussing our energy and resources on engaging the community on various levels such as good health and well-being, quality education and sustainable growth,” said Oraon. “We work with the villagers with various initiatives like ‘shaam ki pathshala’ – an evening school programme where children learn about topics such as financial education, spoken English, science and even photography.”

The Open Field also organises regular farmers’ markets where the associated farmers get direct access to an urban clientele. 

“We also run knowledge-enhancing workshops on subjects like rainwater harvesting, organic farming and nursery management,” said Oraon. “In the end, it’s all about community participation, engagement and benefit.”  

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The lead image at the top shows Manisha Oraon (left) with a ‘tribal thali’ (also seen on the right) offered at The Open Field. (Photo courtesy The Open Field)

Pallavi Srivastava is Associate Director – Content at Village Square.