Ashish Chopra is presently the Executive Director of the Institute for Environmental Management and Social Development. He was also the former Advisor to the Governor of Mizoram. His directorship of the Institute seems to have taken a backseat though to pursue his passion for food and travel. As a result he is now dedicating his quality time as a CULINARY HISTORIAN/FOOD CRITIC/TRAVEL WRITER/PHOTOGRAPHER. He is also the consulting editor (cuisine) of the FOLKS MAGAZINE- www.folks.co.in
A PhD in Conflict Managemnt, he has been working in the field of environment , social development, culture and cuisine especially in the North East India for over a decade now. His latest book being “ A travel guide to North East India“. He is also the author of NE Belly-A book on the cuisines of the eight North Eastern states. He calls North East India as his obsession which has taught and given him much.He is now documenting the traditional tribal foods of India and writing a cookbook–TRIBAL CUISINES OF INDIA and one on STREET FOODS OF INDIA.
Apart from that he has interest in regional cuisine, folk music, tribal art, indegenous knowledge and film making. Amongst his forthcoming projects is a coffee table book on the NE. He is also a keen documentary filmmaker and has been working on documentraies on the Chins of Mizoram, the Nocte tribe of Arunachal, the Konyaks of Nagaland, and a television series on the migrant cuisines of India. He has published various papers on development, conflict management and culture.
He has anchored a talk show called-” To the Point” on one of the prominent satellite news channels.A foodie at heart and not by profession but by passion- He has been a food critic with various magazines and has also been a food consultant with ITC Welcom Heritage group of hotels having documented the Royal cuisines of the erstwhile Maharajas. Amongst his latest projects are, conceptualisation of the first cross Cultural Heritage Cuisine Restaurant in India for the Carlson’s Country Inns and Suites Group at Jaipur and a traditional Punjabi Heritage cuisine Resturant with Sufi as its theme at Ludhiana. Also coming up in Goa is the World’s first North East Indian Cuisine Resturant serving cuisines from the eight states of North East India based out of his book. He has been invited to co-author a book on the Royal cuisines of Bhagel with H.H Pushpraj Sinh-the erstwhile Maharaja of Rewa and subsequently GAJRAJ SINGH the Thakur of Diggi State in Rajasthan has also commissioned him to do a coffee table book on the erstwhile secret recipes and food traditions of the Diggi State.
He has also consulted for the television series by BBC channel Four.Gorden Ramseys Great Escapes on North east Indian Cuisine
He believes that food, music and culture transcends all boundaries of caste, conflict, creed and religion. To respect food, tradition and culture is the best way to respect humanity. This blog is a modest attempt to promote his passion for cuisines. He truly lives to eat!
