Naga chef Yimshen Naro Jamir’s journey as a foodpreneur traces back to the pandemic right after she joined Guwahati University, Assam, as faculty. Two weeks into her new job, the university was shut down and Yimshen was stuck in a new city alone. She had limited access to resources including utensils in her unfurnished house. Gradually, she turned to cooking during free hours between online classes and started posting the dishes on social media. Her cooking was even featured on a social media page, Food You Rather, which showcased home cooks in Guwahati during the lockdown, allowing customers to order from them. “That’s where I got the confidence that I can make food and sell it,” says Yimshen who was in Thiruvanathapuram to attend Ragbag 2025 festival at Kerala Arts and Crafts Village, Kovalam.
Soon Yimshen left her job at the university and returned to Dimapur, Nagaland, to start her restaurant—The Melding Pot, where she attempts to replicate the flavours she tasted from her travels. The eatery’s dynamic menu depends on the ingredients sourced by the chef during her trips. From Polish pierogis to Malaysian laksa, Yimshen aims to provide “more than momos and chow mein” to Dimapur.
“While I am proud of my Naga heritage, I am just trying to introduce new dishes here. Nagaland already has excellent Naga restaurants,” says Yimshen, who has Ao and Angami ethnic roots.
“Most of the recipes are from my friends abroad taught by their mothers or grandmothers,” says Yimshen who studied at the University of Tartu, Estonia in 2018, where she made friends with other international students, learning more about their food.
(Clockwise from top left) Malaysian Laksa, Mee Bakso (an Indonesian beef meatballs soup) and pork noodles | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Bun cha or Vietnamese meatball salad | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Yimshen’s first international trip was to Bhutan in 2014 when she visited her college friends. Even now, she often travels to the neighbouring nation by road and brings back her favourite air-dried vegetables and indigenous cheeses used to prepare curries such as ema datshi, kewa datshi, and beef datshi, among others. She also enjoys the sun-dried pork and red rice from Bhutan, which have been featured in her menu as weekly specials.
Out of everything she prepares, the academic-turned-chef is “very proud” of the fish balls she picked up at a Chinese wedding in Kalimpong, West Bengal. “I saw some men cooking this dish and they taught me how to make it.”
Fish balls in chicken broth | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Claypot rice with Lap Yuk and Chinese sausages from Kalimpong | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
However, once in a while, Yimshen does venture into Naga food serving the lesser-known dishes from villages apart from the typical Axone pork (a pork preparation with fermented soybean), which is synonymous with Naga cooking. “When we do these Naga specials we source the ingredients from the specific areas.”
“People are quite aware of our cuisine now. We have a few Naga places in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru and it’s getting popular abroad too. Many chefs have been invited to open restaurants in New Zealand, Europe and so on,” says Yimshen.
Nevertheless, she points out that prejudices still exist about Naga food. “As soon as they hear the word Nagaland, the first thing they ask me is if I eat dogs. I don’t. They ask this question without understanding where this practice came from,” she explains. During her college days in Delhi, Yimshen and her friends were prohibited from cooking pungent dishes like dry fish or axone by their landlord. “We learned how to bypass them, covering our food with newspapers and burning agarbattis while cooking,” she says.
The chef follows a zero-waste policy. “If I use chicken for one dish, I’ll use its broth and skin for something else,” she says.
Yimshen is currently on vacation after travelling across the country and helping curate menus for some cafes. During her last trip to Thailand and Vietnam, she brought back coffee, chilli sauce and tofu skin. She hopes to continue the operations of her restaurant soon and wishes to do more catering gigs serving a larger volume of people. She is also looking to train someone to take over the restaurant in her absence.
Published - February 08, 2025 10:22 am IST
