Meet techies who left cushy jobs to sell homemade ‘harisa’ in Kashmir

Srinagar: Alima Hassan has done B. Tech from MIT Pune, but instead of joining a multinational corporation, she chose to start her own cloud kitchen ‘Dastarkhwaan’. These days, she and her team are busy home delivering Kashmir’s favourite winter delicacy ‘harisa’ that can be ordered online.

Instead of going for a regular job, more youngsters now prefer to start their own food based ventures with a focus on Kashmiri cuisines.

Want harisa, get it home delivered

“I am a food blogger and we were running @kashmir_foodblogger page on Instagram. Six months back, we decided to start our own cloud kitchen ‘Dastarkhwaan’ and the response has been great. These days, harisa is in great demand. People like our harisa and we are getting good reviews as it is homemade and made from 100 per cent lamb meat. We deliver across Srinagar city and also in Pampore,” Alima told The Kashmir Monitor.

Alima, who is a resident of the Zaffran Colony Sempora in the city outskirts, said they wanted to keep the Kashmiri culture alive and was also getting a lot of support from her family.

Bloggers also showcasing Kashmiri cuisine

“Through our food blog, we wanted to showcase Kashmiri cuisine and culture and keep it alive. Now, our cloud kitchen is taking it a step forward. We also serve other authentic wazwaan and homemade Kashmiri cuisines. I received a lot of support from my parents and family. Presently, I am also pursuing M. Tech in Electronics and Communication from MIT Pune through online mode,” she said.

IT guys, engineering students into food business

Popular food blogger Omar Rather of ‘KashmirFoodGram’ fame said he knew quite a few youngsters with degrees in engineering and IT, who had their own food startups that home deliver harisa and other Kashmir cuisines.

“There are quite a few youngsters in Kashmiri that have degrees in engineering and IT but are home delivering harisa, wazwaan and other local cuisine through their start ups. It is a new trend and one can come across a number of pages on Instagram that deliver harisa and other local food. Quite a few of these ventures are of IT, engineering and MBA students. There are also some food bloggers that teach people how to prepare harisa at home. All have become very popular,” Omar told The Kashmir Monitor.