Rajalakshmi Kumari is adding the finishing touch to a toy at Kondapalli in Andhra Pradesh – the tip of her fine painting brush adds a dash of red to the lips of the wooden toy. Rajalakshmi smiles and says, “I am done for today; the toys are ready.”
Paper sweet packing
In Bhimaravam in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, Nageshwar Reddy is busy marinating shrimps. He takes specifications on the amount and spice tolerance on a video call. He explains, “I can vary spice levels to an extent, but not the salt. Salt and oil are preservatives for pickles.”
kondapalli toys | Photo Credit: V Raju
Nageshwar Reddy is among 30 households that prepare various traditional sweets, snacks, pickles and toys native to the Telugu states, for Hyderabad-based Desi Authentic (DA)., an aggregator of speciality traditional food and crafts, all sourced from small business owners or homepreneurs. Founded by Ram Vemireddy and Vara Prasad in 2019, DA delivers all these products to Telugu NRIs across 12 countries. Their biggest orders are usually from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and UAE.
Presently DA is working with 20 women homepreneurs. Ram Vamireddy shares, “In the last three years, we generated ₹2.8 crore business for these women homepreneurs. When I came up with the idea in 2019. my only goal was to deliver food that is free of preservatives, tastes and smells fresh after reaching distant places like the USA and Canada. Having lived abroad for years, I realise tasting fresh homemade sweets is not possible unless someone comes visiting.” That is why DA ensures sweets reach within three days after preparation. They do not supply any sweet that has a low shelf life or does not travel well.
Avakaya
After Ram returned to Hyderabad from USA and found only commercial suppliers, he began to search for home enterprises that make things on order. After about a yearhe found a few families that were also consistent with food taste and quality. “Desi Authentic came to the rescue of NRI families looking for authentic Telugu food, especially when international travel was grounded after COVID. Between 2021 and now, we have sent customised sweet and snack packages for functions like house warming, anniversaries, weddings and cradle ceremonies to different countries.”
Another favourite is avakaya. They ship up to 200 kilograms of just the traditional avakaya during the summer. “Other pickles and snacks for various different occasions vary. Post Covid lockdown, the demand for customised traditional gift boxes with traditional sweets and snacks has gone up.”
Among sweets, boondi laddoo and pootharekulu are in constant demand. Apart from sweets, pickles and snacks, they receive orders for vadiyalu, papad, crunchy sakinalu, ariselu, annamayya laddu, gongura pachchadi, atukula mixture and non-veg pickles.
Artisans and cooks of DA are elated at receiving customer feedback. Besides the earnings, this positive feedback motivates the homepreneurs to continue with their craft.
