The walls of the restaurant have been hand painted, depicting the culture, food and life of Badagas. Ready last September followed by Nanga Hittu in February 2021. Till she decided to come back to India and launched filter coffee chain Kaapi

“I am not a Badaga but Vignesh is and we both wanted to revive this unique culinary tradition because many people from this community have moved out and certain foods are no more being cooked while others are prepared only once or twice a year,” says Deepa, 39, founder of Nanga Hittu.Īlso Read: Tendu leaves cushion tribals from economic deprivation during COVID-19ĭigital transformation for one of the Big Four accounting firms in Singapore The world’s first Badaga restaurant Nanga Hittu (meaning ‘our food’) inĬoimbatore, about 500 km from Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai. Tribal food of Badagas, friends Deepa Sudhakar and Vignesh Chandran have set up Their culture is unique, much like their food, which is now being forgotten as Badagas are moving to other parts of the world and adapting to more convenient local cuisines.Īlso Read: Last Forest takes honey & beeswax products from Nilgiri forests to global markets Nanga Hittu founder Deepa Sudhakar (middle) and co-founder Vignesh Chandran (to her left) with other staff. The Badaga tribe continues to live in 400 villages ( hattis) in the Nilgiris, mostly on the summit of low hillocks with rows of thatched or tiled houses surrounded by their fields. The distance has also moved him away from the Badaga cuisine.īadagas (also called Burghers or Vadugans) are the largest indigenous social group in the Nilgiris who migrated from the plains of Mysore to these hills over 350 years ago following political turmoil and oppression.

Today, Sabbarish is settled in financial and technology hub Gurgaon, thousands of kilometres away from Ooty in the Nilgiris district where his Badaga roots lie. Also Read: From ragi momos to snails, how tribal food is becoming the ambassador for Jharkhand’s indigenous cultureīut Sabbarish’s father moved to Chennai for work when he was just 10.

Badaga culture