“India has several diverse, beautiful cultures, and food is deeply interwoven in each one of them. The wide range of ingredients that this land has to offer forms the basis of my food brand – Native Tongue – and SnackMagic is helping me tell this story to the world.”
I come from a family where food is the biggest reason for joy – a power that binds all members, young or old, together. So as soon as I found someone like me, whose passion for food surpassed mine, I did what any far-sighted person would: I married her.
After 11 years of corporate life, my wife (and now business partner) surfaced her brand. At Native Tongue, we make an all-natural range of spreads, fresh fruit preserves, and Nut Butters that are made from specialty produce of Indian using traditional culinary methods.
Our flavours are a spin on classics, for example we take world-class peanuts from the Indian State of Gujarat and spike it with a fiery, smoky chilli from the state of Karnataka – thus inventing a spiced peanut butter that not only pairs beautifully with toasts but also doubles up as a satay sauce to toss-up quick-fix noodles.
Similarly, our flavours include Caramelized Onion and Fig Relish with a fruity Kachampuli Vinegar from the Coorg region, or an Almond butter made from nuts sourced from Kashmir, infused with turmeric sourced from India’s North-East Region of Meghalaya, and so on. Due to their exotic nature, these flavours make for delightful gifts – it’s like an entire country packed in a beautiful box!
And trust people from SnackMagic to sit up and take notice of these gift boxes! Soon I was speaking with the person in charge of partnerships in India, but there was a delightful change – it felt as if I was speaking with a friend. SnackMagic had done their homework WRT my brand. They knew the flavours well. They knew the strengths as well as areas where I needed a little push. We introduced hampers that consisted of handcrafted nut butters and fruit preserves, but SnackMagic wanted more. “How can we add more excitement to these boxes?” They would ask me. “Is there another theme which we can add here?” With about a million ideas zooming through our minds, we went back to the drawing board and started sharing gifting concepts.
“How about Pancake Mixes and Spreads, where we pair handpicked fresh fruit preserves with Pancake mixes for the entire family to enjoy.”
“Lovely,” they said. “We’ll take that, thank you. Now give us more!”
“We can create a Salads N Sandwiches box. Mustards, Nut Butters, Salad Dressings! How about that!”
“Splendid,” they said. “Let’s add some elegant cutlery and tea trays too.”
I’ll admit it, if it wasn’t for SnackMagic, we wouldn’t have come up with so many different themes. To date now we have come up with about 7-8 such concepts – ranging from Power Breakfast Snack Box to a Do-it-yourself Christmas Tree Hamper. Each of these hampers are handcrafted and packed with care. Receiving these delicious sauces and spreads in a beautifully designed box is a delightful experience.
But what’s even fun is that each of these flavours is bound to take the recipient down memory lane. “Native Tongue’s flavours are conversation starters,” said one of our regular customers, and we won’t disagree.
Check out the SnackMagic menu for India here.
