Venba: A video game about a South Indian immigrant’s story one recipe at a time – The Indian Express
Venba: A video game about a South Indian immigrant’s story one recipe at a time – The Indian Express
Venba, an upcoming indie game for Nintendo Switch, tries to cast a new spotlight on many Asian immigrant populations’ experiences in Canada and the US.
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 centres around 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 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 make a cooking game that had South Indian dishes along with a story about a Tamilian Indian family living in Canada,” he says..
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..
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 she brought with her mother’s recipe book which was damaged during the trip.
“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 realised how much depth and knowledge there is in our cuisine and how much history 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..
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 is a writer.
“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..
“The game sheds the light on what their struggle might be and what they might be thinking,” he says.
“She [Venba] is like an amalgamation of a lot of the mothers we see here in our own families,” he adds..
“Venba is all about discovering your roots, understanding why, and where we come from,” Abhi says when asked about the biggest takeaway from the game..
Abhi and his team talked to professional and home chefs and researched the history of the recipes to understand why they are cooked in a particular way and to make sure what dishes make for good gameplay.
“I also had to research what makes sense to cook in Canada because [Venba] came here in the 1980s.
I thought it was also a really nice way to tell the story,” he says..
Abhi feels he has a responsibility, as a Tamilian, to represent the people, the culture, the music, and the food in the game in the most authentic way, serving as a veracious voice through which India can tell its varied and compelling stories..
Venba presents the player with a glimpse into the life of a local Tamilian Indian family in Canada through a love for cooking.
“The music in the game has been set in a way that every time Venba starts to cook, she turns on the radio.
For me, cooking at home was very similar… There’s always a TV or the radio or something in the background,” says Abhi..
Abhi relied on traditional Tamilian music that combined metaphors to describe the emotions of Venba and her family.
“Not only we showed Tamil music and culture but also how it’s changed throughout the years,” Abhi says..
For Abhi, Venba is a global game at heart that can be played by every age group of players.
“Venba is all about discovering your roots, understanding why, and where we come from,” Abhi says when asked about the biggest takeaway from the game..
Before Venba, Abhi and his team were working on an action platformer but put the game on hold after working on it for six months.
Instead, they turned their attention to Venba and started working on the game..
It was initially a PC game but the big moment came when Venba was a part of Nintendo’s Indie Showcase World event in November..
“We are not the ones who reached out to Nintendo but they reached out to us very early on when they saw the first trailer for the game, and they wanted to help us bring it to their platforms,” an elated Abhi says, adding that Nintendo has been pushing for games that are fresh, unique and interesting.
Before Venba, Raji: An Ancient Epic appeared on Nintendo Switch, a testament to how lately games with Indian characters and narratives are going global..
Abhi agrees, by and large, local Indian game developers aren’t still convinced to tell their deeply rooted stories to a global audience and that is working against them.
There is a lot of resistance to saying the game is from an Indian culture or context,” he says.
“I feel like game developers in India and Pakistan should focus on doing small stories from their own houses.
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