Nithin Samuel

What’s your go-to local food spot in your city, and why does it matter to you?

I’ve most recently come across a small hawker stall kind of foodspot in Kochi called Elam Resto Cafe, which is a small 2-3 person setup where they make Kerala dishes like puttu, appam, idiyappam, pathiri, and bread and pair it with stews, duck pepper roast, chicken and beef roast, vindaloo’s, prawns dishes, etc. Whilst I’ve not yet tried everything there, the simple dish of bread and veg stew felt so authentic and home cooked like and was free from what’s now becoming common of adding milk/ cream/ cheese to every dish in the name of fast food. The place felt simple and authentic, and hearty. They have a black tea container that we can all self-serve from anytime or after a meal and it just feels simple, authentic and something that represents Kerala and more spots like this should come and succeed in Kochi. I hear that they are soon moving to a fixed space and am excited for their journey!

One food trend you’re loving right now, and one you’re ready to see less of.
Loving It: The embracement of fermented food beyond the usual yoghurt or soy sauce is now tangible. Sauerkraut, Lacto fermented chili or olives are all now becoming mainstream, and drinks like tepache or kombucha is to be seen almost everywhere and we should welcome these lost recipes making a comeback as gut-friendly food.

See less of: I’ve not quite latched onto the matcha movement yet and can’t see the appeal as of now.

What’s something you’ll almost always find in your fridge?

Carrots and yoghurt, always stock up on carrots and don’t make it often enough but I’m sure one can make a lot of different recipes with carrots.

Yoghurt because I’ve found my own preference and combination to make the perfect set yoghurt, which is gentle on the stomach and also not too sour, so I keep making it, love some dahi with some aloo/ aloo-pyaz-mirchi parathas and achar.

 What’s an LFC moment or memory that you’ll never forget?  

While we aren’t chasing numbers per se, it did feel nice, when a few months of our group efforts resulted in a huge footfall at our November meetup (Scrappy Seconds?) and we got people from different walks of life together, with also a lot of home cooked goodness for us to sample, and hearty conversations and ideas for future foodwalks and other initiatives. Even our street food themed meetup was simple and light and brimming with energy. We need more of this.

How do you imagine your Local Food Club growing and flourishing over time?

With the new quarterly themes and the focus shifting to more slow, peer led shared movements, shared knowledge building, and shared experiences, this with nurture, could turn out to be a more close-knit, intimate community which is intentional, aware, curious, explorative, growing, and actionable about what’s local, including produce, food systems, support systems, the producers, all the elements in the food lifecycle; and how us, the end consumers can collectively make a difference when we’re aware and empowered with our choice.

What excites me is that this is a place where all of the above can spring from and build organically and collectively, just from a little spark, and a bit of nurture. We are all diverse, and intelligent – all it might take is intrigue, conversation, and a bit of intentional engagement.

We’d love to do Farmer’s market visits, Food-walks, Farm-experiences, Knowledge Bank of local products and producers can be built, showcasing home grown produce at our meetups, Cross cultural pair up’s with our sister city – LFC Trivandrum, among others