Sikkim’s youngest chef Pho Pen Obed Sangay Lepcha serves both health & flavour on a platter

FEATURE | July 13, 2018 | Sikkim Chronicle

"Food is a world to me, I consider it to be my friend thus I make and treat food with much love, compassion and care" said Pho Pen, the youngest chef of Sikkim.

Pho Pen Obed Sangay Lepcha is a 20-year-old youngest chef, food enthusiast, food researcher, critic and a food entrepreneur from Gangtok. Born to parents Roshni Sangay Lepcha and Daniel Sangay Lepcha, Pho Pen started baking and cooking from an early age of 11.

Pho Pen exclaims that his grandmother was the one who immensely inspired him to be curious towards understanding food and different food culture.

"I used to see my grandmother making cake in a pressure cooker which later turned out to be my favourite, thus it made me understand how a local technique of food making can be used to make good and delicious food and today I make sure to apply the same techniques in my food making process" he added.

Pho Pen completed his fundamentals from Kyi-de-Khang School, Bahai school and Tashi Namgyal Senior Secondary School and currently he is learning his Culinary Art from a hotel management institute in Chandigarh. Before learning culinary art he was a student of retail management which he feels that was his choice to learn retail and business which would help him in his future food entrepreneurship and business prospects.

Delving further about his interest in food and food culture Pho Pen patiently explains that his love for food is immense, he prepares food with honesty. He likes experimenting with food and amalgamating different food culture.

"Presently, I am experimenting on the fusion of Sikkimese and French food culture" added young Pho Pen. He further added, "People in Sikkim are quite naive in terms of food generally, when they get food, they just consume. I want people in Sikkim to not just consume food but eat and enjoy healthy food, thus in future I may come up with a huge venture where I can serve the best of health, and flavour to the people of my state".

Presently, Pho Pen also runs an online food business with the name 'Kifeast' which is the gourmet cuisine in Gangtok which so far is doing really well. He has published his well crafted food menu on his various social media handles and has been receiving good response from people. He believes in serving freshly cooked food, and also delivers order by himself.

He is the only child of his parents and his parents are very supportive towards his passion of food making and his food business. He aspires to have his own restaurant in future, provide employment to people and also conduct many workshops on food making and research.

On asking his message to the young people in Sikkim, he said "It is very important for young people to follow their heart but dedication, commitment and consistency is much needed. Work hard and you will have your result soon".

Source: Sikkim Chronicle