By Kristine Hansen | Photography by Hillary Schave
What’s the best way to connect people, other than through culture and food?” muses Padmini Chintakayala.
In 2022, Chintakayala and her husband, Raj Peddapati, launched Nommli, a combination meal and cultural experience subscription box. Each box contains prepared meals, custom art, stories and facts about a country’s art and culture, and suggestions for sensory-oriented activities and entertainment.
For example, with the Japanese box, “you get ramen noodles from New York, entertainment recommendations for a movie to watch, a book to read and music to listen to while you make the meal. It’s like all of Japan in a box,” Chintakayala says.
Subscribers can choose month to month, a three-month collection or a single box — and can select between a vegetarian or carnivore option.
“We ship as far as California and New York,” says Chintakayala. The concept quickly attracted subscribers in Northern Wisconsin who “loved having access to foods they can’t find locally,” she says.
Madison restaurants such as Oliva Mediterranean and Dhaba Indian Bistro, as well as those in other U.S. cities, provide the culinary ingredients and step-by-step instructions. “We’re also helping restaurants reach people who would otherwise never know about them,” Chintakayala says.
It’s important for Chintakayala that the cultures represented tie together.
“At the end of the three month subscription, we send an exclusive story that helps connect these seemingly unrelated cultures,” she says. For example, one three-month collection featured Ethiopia, Turkey and Thailand. Because each country supports tea and coffee plantations, subscribers received “a beautiful story about economic empowerment,” she says.
A mother of two small children, Chintakayala worked as a tech engineer and has traveled extensively around the world.
“I grew up in India. I feel very passionate about raising an inclusive generation,” she says. “A lot of our customers, especially kids, love Nommli and are asking, ‘When is the next box coming?’”
What is your favorite dish?
“An Inca salad from the Pan Latin Box. I also love our Japanese ramen from our Japanese box.”
