If you are a Nepali living outside Nepal, for no matter how many years or decades, the chances are no other food excite you as much as the Nepalese food does. Yes, that’s the magic and charm of Nepali food — food that are rich with flavor and culture. If you live in or around any major cities in any corner of the world, it won’t be difficult to find a Nepalese owned restaurant and that’s probably your best place to satisfy your hunger. But what might disappoint you as a Nepali is that most of these restaurants are labeled as ‘Indian Restaurant’ by the owners as the Indian food is way more popular all around the world. That might be one of the reasons that Nepali cuisine has still not been able to get the place it deserves internationally.

Nepalese dishes are generally healthier than most other South Asian gastronomies, as they rely less on the extensive use of fats and more on chunky vegetables, lean meats, pickled dishes and salad. And that is why people need to know about Nepali food and not mistake it to be Indian.

Kritika Pradhananga, a young entrepreneur based in Melbourne, has taken up the challenge and is all set on a journey to let the people in this Australian city know about the true essence of the Nepalese cuisine. She along with her dedicated team has been riding the first ever Nepalese food truck in Australia to various parts of Melbourne with an authentic Nepalese menu. Vutu in Wheels, that has been operating for a few months now, is not only enjoying a customer base of people of Nepalese and South Asian descents but Australians as well.

We talked to the 27-year old entrepreneur recently on how the journey has been so far. Excerpts.

1. Tell us the inspiration and story behind the food truck.

Before I talk about the inspiration behind the food truck, I must speak about the inspiration behind starting Vutu, a business dedicated to Nepali food with a healthier approach. Our physical shop Vutu, is not a restaurant but more like a take away joint. My first and foremost approach was to concentrate on “take away food” that is healthy, delicious and something that did not compromise on quality. We wanted to cook and prepare everything from scratch whenever possible, cook every day in small batches only and rectify the image of “take away food” that usually suffers from pre-assumptions like take away food are usually greasy and not necessarily healthy. So the whole idea of making hearty comfort meals available that could be shared with friends and family led me to brainstorm further. Since I am not a chef or from a professional background of cooking, I started looking into something I was comfortable with too. And it was obvious for me to consider Nepali food.

Once the type of cuisine was locked in, we started putting together our business plan and model. More we researched on the current trends, the market and the risks involved in the volatile hospitality industry, I became more certain that our business needed some kind of mobility. There were few options like doing market stalls, concentrating more on catering etc. Among them, food truck seemed very reasonable and financially feasible. Since we had the option to “rent as you go” in case the food truck didn’t take off properly, we could always discontinue renting the food truck. So with a small addition of capital, Vutu on Wheels was more of a marketing campaign and a source of extra income. Hence, we decided to settle for a small shop with low overheads where we can push on our “take away” model while use Vutu on Wheels Food Truck as a branding to visit as many places in Melbourne as possible to introduce Nepali Food. So, I guess the inspiration for the food truck was more of a calculative thought on top of the excitement of bringing real Nepali food to Melbourne.

2. When exactly did you start the business and what’s the food menu like?

We will be one year exact on 17th of June 2016 since we have been operational at the shop but Vutu on Wheels is only 7 months old.

Our menu is very straightforward for Vutu on Wheels section covering the famous Kathmandu street food i.e Momo, Sekuwa, Bara, Aloo Achar, Choila etc. We have lots of vegetarian options in our menu, which was a very personal take. I prefer eating vegetarian, especially when eating outside. But it was a constant battle to find decent vegetarian food. Melbourne is far more vegetarian friendly now but still Indian/Nepali food outlets always have very limited vegetarian options.

Our menu is carefully designed catering for Gluten free and vegan options. We try to give a healthier approach to our menu and still staying true to our Nepali roots. I am very passionate about delivering healthier eating options for kids. Our kids menu are free of fries, paired with homemade ketchup and still kids’ friendly.

3. How have been the reactions of the people? Have you noticed people who have become your regular customers?

So far we have had immense support and very positive response from both Nepalese and Australians. Surely we have had reviews such as “The dumplings were weird AF” but that comes with the challenge. I think besides the fact that we put so much effort in freshness and quality, our Nepali food is very likeable. The flavours are honest and delicate. For instance, we don’t use too many different spices like in Indian or Sri lankan cooking. Also our branding is very transparent – Honest Nepali food that has the potential to keep us with the current food trend. For example Fapar ko roti, mung ko Bara, chatamari etc — they are all gluten free, vegan, paleo friendly, low FODMAP option etc.

So our ability to recognise this potential and being able to introduce our food to Melbourne very subtly without coming across too bold are the reasons why we have been able to gain such positive response.

4. Are your customers mostly Nepalese and South Asians or do you have many Australian customers as well?

We are quite famous among the Nepalese crowd. Since we offer typical Newari food along with Nepali food, we have been quite a talk in the town. We have received so much love and support from the Nepalese community that it is overwhelming. Having said that, our main customer base are Australians, purely because of where we are located and because where our food truck parks are located, most of the customers are Australians. We would love to see more Nepalese tag along with the food truck trend.

5. Didn’t you think it might be a risk as not many people know about Nepalese food and it might affect your business?

It was always on the back of my head and still every now and then it haunts me the fact that the real Nepali food is not highly commercialised. Like, 5 out of 10 people will ask for soy sauce when they purchase Momo (dumplings) from our food truck. They wouldn’t know why we are serving “Achar” which is curry like flavour with dumplings. But when they do try, most of the customers come back for more Momos – this is a fact. It is both our goal and our challenge to introduce the real Nepali food and despite the risks we went ahead. I wouldn’t have it any other way though. It is one thing to ignore the risks and problems and another to identify those risks and problems. We had to analyse what we were up against and strategically work on it. It is a slow and steady move.

6. Most of the Nepalese restaurants, not only in Australia but around the world, label them as Indian restaurants because Indian food is widely known and Nepalese food is not, what are your views on that?

As a customer, I have always felt the pinch and dissatisfaction. Nepali food in Melbourne is highly misrepresented. I have seen it being used in conjunction with Indian, Tibetan and even Burmese food. And there are many controversies. Authenticity itself is a matter of controversy. I mean food travels. But we can’t get nitty-gritty about details. I mean bread is bread, and it can be found in different forms all over the world. We are not trying to trademark a type of food and I can understand from a business point of view the need to advertise a cuisine that appeals to different cultures. However I can only speak for myself. I agree that even most of the food on our menu aren’t food people might eat day in and day out in a village in Nepal but we are closer than what was available in the market. In my view, Melbourne is definitely ready for authentic Nepali food. Because the population of Nepalese in Melbourne has increased, there is a chunk of target market who have been to Nepal and are aware of Nepali food and people are more open towards new cuisines. So, why not? Why beat around the bush and hide behind other cuisines when we have our own unique cuisine.

7. If you have to point out a feature that makes you different from the others in the business, what would it be?

Along with making Nepali food well known in Melbourne, we are also very passionate about sustainable and ethical business practices. Our food truck only uses eco-friendly products while serving our food. Most of the herbs used in our food come from our herb garden. And our vegetable patch also contributes towards our “special menu”. We are working on our own onsite composting that will be used to fertilise our herb garden and vege patch. One of our goals is to make our food truck Vutu on Wheels a completely sustainable truck.

8. Tell us anything about yourself, your business or anything we have missed to ask in particular.

In past, I have worked very closely with international students and I am still very passionate towards that industry. I wish to revisit that part of my career again when the time is right. But a big chunk of my career I have spent was in hospitality. I have been working in hospitality industry for last 8 years, 3 years of which I managed a restaurant. I have a list of long hobbies, from making my own candles to writing to knitting. I love anything that involves getting my hands dirty. I love to feel whatever I am working with. I am a strong advocate of growing your own food, or at least knowing where our food comes from. So whatever I do as my job, must have the strong influence of being able to work with food, but most importantly real food. I believe that one needs courage, hope, faith and hard work to achieve whatever they set upon. However we must never forget the humility and gratitude. I am always grateful for the people around me- family, friends, critics, mentors – specially my team, my work mates who have been with me through and through. I would not be able to do achieve anything without my life partner and business partner Chris nor without the Vutu team in kitchen led by Ashish Rai.

When we came to know about this venture, we were excited and happy that somebody is working on to introduce the true Nepalese cuisine in a foreign land and that was the reason we chose to cover the story. We weren’t familiar with Kritika and didn’t know anything about her. But when were introduced to her and particularly, when we interviewed her via phone calls and instant messaging, she impressed us in a lot of ways. She is one heck of a passionate, hardworking and dedicated individual who has been doing her best not only to follow her dreams but to do her bit for the betterment of the society in any way possible as well. NeoStuffs wishes her and her amazing team all the success they deserve.

You can find them on Facebook or log on to their website or simply make a call at +61395072029. Do send us the pictures on our Facebook handle if you happen to meet her and eat at her truck or restaurant.