Tokyo food enthusiast savours Odia dishes

Bhubaneswar: When Haruno Iyozumi, a Tokyo-based food enthusiast known as the ‘Curry Explorer’, arrived in Odisha last week, she wasn’t just ticking another destination off her culinary map, but searching for continuity in India’s diverse food cultures, one region at a time.A frequent visitor to India since 2019, Iyozumi has explored the country’s north, west and south extensively. This time, her focus was the east. “I wanted to understand Indian cuisine as a gradual continuum across regions,” she says. During her Odisha visit, she travelled through Bhubaneswar, Puri and Berhampur.What she discovered in Odisha was both surprising and familiar. “Odia cuisine feels very close to Japanese food in some ways,” she explains, pointing to the subtle use of sweetness, the restrained nature of desserts and the emphasis on vegetables. “There are dishes where multiple vegetables are simmered together, which reminds me of home-style Japanese cooking.”Her most memorable experience was partaking of prasada at Ananta Vasudeva Temple, Bhubaneswar. “Because it doesn’t use garlic or ginger, you can really taste the natural umami of vegetables in dishes like dalma and besara,” she says. “Sitting on the floor, being served from clay pots and eating in silence, it felt deeply sacred,” she added.Iyozumi was equally fascinated by Odisha’s traditional cooking techniques, particularly the poda (roasting) style. A standout was ‘patrapoda’ she tasted at a restaurant in Puri, its smoky aroma leaving a lasting impression.Comparing Odia cuisine with that of neighbouring Kolkata, which she visited before coming to Odisha, she notes distinct contrasts. “Odia food feels rounder and more comforting, while Kolkata cuisine is sharper, with stronger use of mustard and spices like kalonji,” says Iyozumi, whose journey with curries began during her university days in Tokyo, where she led a curry club and organised pop-up dining events. Today, she works at a Tamil restaurant, Thanjai Meals, while collaborating with Indian eateries in Japan to make their menus more accessible to Japanese diners. Her work blends storytelling, translation and culinary curiosity.Through her social media and pop-up events in Japan, she now hopes to draw attention to such lesser-known regional foods. “Indian cuisine in Japan is still limited to a few dishes. I want to share experiences like Odisha’s without changing the food, but by helping people understand it,” she said.