IHCL and Tata Steel Foundation run 10-day workshop to boost tribal culinary skills and livelihoods

# What happened

# Why it matters

The workshop combines professional hospitality training with participants' existing culinary knowledge to create concrete livelihood opportunities. The curriculum included practical skills—food preparation, presentation, hygiene and food safety—alongside hospitality service standards and basic entrepreneurship. The project aims to help tribal cooks package and present their food heritage for wider audiences and potential income-generating activities.

# Who ran it and what they said

IHCL presented the programme under Paathya, its ESG+ framework. IHCL's Chief People Officer, Prabhat Verma, said capability building can enable economic opportunity and that the course merges structured hospitality training with traditional expertise.

Tata Steel Foundation CEO Sourav Roy described the Tribal Cuisine initiative as a vehicle to strengthen skills, livelihoods and the public profile of tribal food traditions. Dr. (Chef) Zubin D'souza, Principal and Dean at IHM Aurangabad, framed the workshop as an exercise in rediscovering heritage while creating employment avenues.

# What participants learned

• Practical cooking techniques that adapt traditional recipes for hospitality settings.
• Food presentation and plating suited to commercial or event contexts.
• Hygiene and food safety protocols required in professional kitchens.
• Hospitality service standards relevant to hotels and food outlets.
• Entrepreneurship basics to explore cottage enterprise models, catering, or collaboration with hospitality partners.

# Track record and scale

# Immediate outcomes and next steps implied by the program

Participants come away with skills they can use to seek employment in hospitality, run small food businesses, or collaborate with hotels and event organisers to showcase tribal dishes. The partners position the training as a stepping stone to building a wider ecosystem for tribal cuisine that pairs traditional culinary knowledge with hospitality and entrepreneurship practices.

# Practical takeaways for readers

• Organizations seeking to support traditional foodways can combine technical hospitality training with entrepreneurship modules to improve livelihood prospects.
• Training programs that prioritize women participants can help channel traditional culinary knowledge into economic opportunity.
• Hospitality industry partners can play a role by providing standards, mentorship and potential market linkages for traditional cooks.

# Bottom line

This Tribal Cuisine workshop is a focused skills intervention: short, practical training that links tribal culinary traditions to hospitality standards and business skills, with an explicit aim of improving income opportunities for participants, especially women.