Slider Image 1 Content
A video game about a South Indian immigrant’s story one recipe at a time
When Abhi, the creator behind Venba, started narrating the story of the upcoming Nintendo Switch title, it was clear that there was much more to this cooking game that explores Southern Indian cuisine. It’s a story that centers around the Tamilian Venba who left India and made a life in Canada, the sacrifices she made to raise a son in a foreign land along with her husband Paavalan with little resources, and held the family together despite the odds. Venba’s story is told over several years as she restores her mother’s recipe book and teaches her young son how to cook.
“Cooking becomes very essential because you are trying to say everything that’s unsaid through food,” Abhi, 28, told indianexpress.com in a video call from Canada. “I thought it would be interesting to explore what if we made a cooking game that had South Indian dishes along with a story about a Tamilian Indian family living in Canada,” he says.
The indie game is currently in development for Nintendo Switch and PC and is scheduled to launch in Spring 2023.
For years, in popular culture, especially in movies and TV shows, immigrants from the South Asian diaspora, were either stereotyped or underrepresented. Venba tries to cast immigrants in a new spotlight on many Asian populations’ experiences in Canada and the US.
The character of Venba is central to the narrative. (Image credit: Visai Studios)
Channeling the personal
Although there have been popular cooking games like Cooking Mama, no one has so far tried to communicate what South Indian food is all about and the local culture on a global map through a video game. Made by Toronto-based developer Visai Studios, the inspiration for Venba comes from Abhi’s personal space and meeting local Tamilian families in Canada while growing up alongside references from movies and music.
Abhi, who was born in Chennai and migrated to Canada with his parents at 12, says he experienced a cultural gap between his generation and his parents while growing up. “In a lot of Tamil households, I found that the kids would forget the language and they would speak English at home. So to me, that kind of inequality in that relationship is what I wanted to talk about in the game.”
The premise for the game is that when Venba immigrated to Canada he brought his mother’s recipe book with him which was damaged during the trip. Every time you cook a dish, you see the recipe but you only see part of it. The rest of it is torn apart. As a player, you have to use clues from the recipe to put things together and cook dishes in a certain way. “To me, cooking is more like a puzzle and I tried to incorporate the same in the game,” Abhi says.
Abhi says he spent a lot of time researching the food and recipes, even though he himself cooks local Tamilian cuisine at home. “As I researched this game, I realized how much depth and knowledge there is in our cuisine and how much history is attached to it,” he says, adding that a lot of people will be encountering these recipes for the first time so it was very important to get it right.
Venba is different from popular cooking games.(Image credit: Visai Studios)
A peek into Venba’s life
The game frequently boasts narratives that rely on the settings of the home, and as a result, players get a glimpse of Venba’s life whether it’s the calendar hanging on the wall which is a Tamilian thing to have or a room filled with books since Paavalan was a writer. “I didn’t want to show stereotypical items as portrayed in movies. I just looked at what my house was or my friend’s house looked like.”
The story is told from the perspective of Venba, with the most basic plot. Venba was a math teacher before he migrated to Canada. But when she moved to Canada, she felt a lot of guilt for leaving India behind. She couldn’t get a full teaching job and instead had to work as a part-time teacher. After having a son, he started to resent moving to Canada and having a new life far from India. “She had to go to Canada, not because she wanted to, but because there were some circumstances in her life,” describes the lead protagonist [Venba] and her struggles to adjust to a new country.
Much of the media attention has been focused on the younger Asian American population. But Abhi feels his parents’ generation’s struggles were not shown properly or at times were completely sidelined. “The game sheds light on what their struggle might be and what they might be thinking,” he says. “She [Venba] is like an amalgamation of
Purina’s Mislabeling Triggers Limited Recall of Prescribed Wet Dog Food
Brie Goldman
Purina is recalling a small amount of low-fat wet dog food after cans of a completely different food were labeled incorrectly.
Nestlé Purina PetCare Company announced last week that it’s voluntarily recalling some of its Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric Low Fat (PPVD EN Low Fat) food because those can might hold another product.
According to Purina, some cans of Purina ONE True Instinct Tender Cuts In Gravy With Real Turkey & Venison were mistakenly labeled as the gastroenteric low-fat food on Sept. 15. Nothing is wrong with the food—it’s safe for dogs to eat—but it’s obviously not the low-fat food some pups are prescribed.
RELATED: FDA Urges Customers To Toss Out Salmonella-tainted Raw Cat Food. Not So Fast, the Manufacturer Says
Pet owners contacted Purina about the mix-up, and the company said it issued the recall as a precaution. It’s received no reports of sick dogs. Here are the details of the recalled food, which you can find on the 13.4-ounce can.
When you open the can, the low-fat food prescribed should look like a beige paste. The mislabeled food—the turkey and venison—consists of chunks swimming in gravy.
Courtesy of Nestlé Purina PetCare Company
While there’s nothing wrong with chunky food, Purina says it’s not intended for dogs who are prescribed low-fat food. The chunky food might be hard for them to digest.
Veterinary offices and prescription-validating retailers sold the food, and Purina has urged them to dispose of it. Same goes for any dog parents who have the misidentified food: Toss it, and Purina will replace it.
Anyone affected can contact Purina at 1-800-579-7733 or purina.com/contact-us.
Macon bar fights date rape with drug test coasters
Brandon Lawler says it’s hard to know if drugging drinks are happening for sure. So he ordered coasters that test for two common date rape drugs.
MACON, Ga. — Every now and then, it’s fun to go out with your friends and grab a cocktail! However, it can take just one unattended drink to be taken advantage of.
That’s why one Macon bar is taking a shot at helping folks protect themselves from date rape drugs.
“We have a lot of live music, we’re open six days a week. We do a lot of great cocktails,” said the owner of JBA Bar and Venue Brandon Lawler.
Lawler says they opened their doors in 2019 and around 400 people walked through their doors on the weekends. He says, as a nightlife business, some crime is bound to happen.
“Drugging drinks, date rape drugs,” Lawler said. “I would say we haven’t had a direct issue here, but we have heard of issues in the downtown area over the past year or so.”
Lawler says it’s hard to know if drugging drinks is happening for sure. He says there should be a way for folks to know in a simple way, so he reached out to Drink Safe Technology– a Florida-based company– and created coasters that test for two common date rape drugs.
“There are two tests per coaster. You’re supposed to get a drop of your drink and you put one drop on each of the A and B of one test, and you kind of smear it around, and make sure that it absorbs in those spots and let it dry,” Lawler said.
He says if the dot stays white, and doesn’t change in color, it’s a negative test. If the dot turns blue you should dump out the drink.
“You can take these in your pocket, your purse. If you’re here and you’re going to another place, you know, take it with you. To make people more comfortable and safe not just here but everywhere,” Lawler said .
Kayra Hoyle grew up in Macon.
“I think it’s a wonderful show of taking care of Macon’s women,” she said.
Hoyle says it’s great that JBA is helping women ease their worries.
“I have a 25-year-old daughter and I am thrilled to see that she will have this available to her,” Hoyle said.
Aryan Grush has been working as a bartender downtown Macon for the last six months.
“This should’ve been a thing a long time ago,” Grush said.
She says she has to constantly monitor women’s drinks when they go to the bathroom, or to mingle because it’s easy to take advantage of.
“You can’t even be holding it and looking in the opposite direction talking to someone because it’s, boop, that simple,” Grush said.
She says this should be widely available.
“This needs to be everywhere. I think every girl should have one in her pocket. It should be at the bar on the counter so you can grab it. It should be discrete.”
According to Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, some symptoms of being drugged with these substances can be difficulty breathing, feeling drunk when little alcohol has been consumed, nausea, loss of memory and more.
Lawler says the coasters are free for folks to ask for and take. He says he would eventually love these tests to be in all drinking establishments in Macon.
He says if any other businesses would like to reach out to him for more information about the coasters, contact him at [email protected].