Zomato and ScoopWhoop launch extreme food show with woman protagonist in genre dominated by men

For the gastronomically inclined ageing millennial, first, there was Anthony Bourdain, his swagger and cool. It led to an explosion of TV hosts: Gordon Ramsay, Rocky and Mayur, Vir Sanghvi, Vikas Khanna and Aditya Bal, who travelled the world eating, talking and drinking.

While they varied in age, height and swagger, they were all men. While most household kitchens are dominated by women, it seemed the travel food-show genre had long been reserved for men. Until now. 

Enter Tenzing Wang Bhutia and Zomato Originals’ new show ‘Eat Like a Girl’. Produced by ScoopWhoop, ‘Eat Like a Girl’ is possibly India’s first extreme food show that pulls no punches and sends Bhutia across the country to eat some of the most unusual food India has to offer.

At 21, Bhutia has an irreverence that’s reflective of a generational shift in the media landscape. She oozes confidence with an attitude as she gobbles up worms, brain and raw Yak meat with her bejewelled nails, red-tinted hair and her occasional display of Delhiness.  

The show is not for the faint hearted, because well, Bhutia eat hearts, livers, kidneys, goat heads, snails, blood sausages, fried blood and tongues (plural, not singular, because she eats more than one) as she travels to eight cities across the country. And while you might cringe and occasionally skip forward, it’s gripping, refreshing and pushes the boundaries of the travel food show gender in India.

The first four episodes of the eight-part series have gone live on the Zomato app and the subsequent four episodes are to be released shortly.

The snippet of the show:

Durga Raghunath, Senior Vice-President, Growth, at Zomato, said, “Food in India is as diverse as this country. From Coimbatore to Guwahati to Lucknow to Goa, different communities have different appetites and traditions. In Bhutia, we found a myth-breaker with the perfect spirit of fun, experimentation and voice to take on challenges few would." 

Sattvik Mishra, CEO, ScoopWhoop, said, “ScoopWhoop is constantly pushing boundaries when it comes to creating content for young Indians. With ‘Eat Like a Girl’, the idea was to showcase how Indian food can be more than just comforting, it can also be exciting and edgy. In a food-show universe dominated by adventurous men, we thought it was about time a girl showed up and shared her unique experience of seeking out and eating extreme food in India.”