500 Years Old Asia's Largest ALL-WOMEN Mother’s Market & Tangkhul Naga Food in Imphal, Manipur I

One of the key places in Imphal, Manipur is IMA Keithel or mother's market. This 500 years old iconic market and is Asia's boasts of being Asia's largest all women market.
During our Manipur Food Tour, we visited this landmark along with our gracious host Shangreiwon Multhou who is a famous chef, entrepreneur cum author from the state who runs a popular bakery cum restaurant named Popa Cakes & Bakes. The episode captures this fascinating experience of decoding some more culinary secrets of the local cuisine. This was followed by a scrumptious Tangkhul Naga cuisine experience at Popa.
Ima market came into existence after the ancient bonded labour system was imposed in the kingdom of Manipur. The system compelled the male members of the Meitei ethnic community to work in far-off places or enlist in the military and other projects. As a result womenfolk were left behind to cultivate their farms or weave textiles, then sell the finished goods, in order to support their families. Ima Keithel was established as a result of the improvised markets. Women of all age groups can be found running small and big businesses.
The market complex consists of three large buildings. One of them is fully dedicated to vegetables, fruits, fish, meat and other food items. The second two are for jewelry, clothing and things of everyday needs. Inside it is a stretch of open space where each women vendor has spread out their fares on raised platforms. First we tried a betel leaf with areca nuts and moved on to a bora or fritters shop. Here one can get freshly made bora at any point of the day and there was a large variety of it. From there we visited a sweet snack shop where we found some popular treats, most of which were handmade. Next we stopped by a vegetable counter where Shangreiwon introduced us to some widely used things which were quite new for us.
After we tried some chuhi with curd and then strolled across the fish and rice section. It was so inspiring to see the hardworking ladies carrying out their day to day business with a spirit. On exiting from the building we had some singju and paknam at a 50 year old stall. Shangreiwon then led us to a section selling ngari. There we got to know more about this indispensable I ingredient of Manipuri cuisine. The market tour was truly enriching as we get to know so many things about the local culinary culture.
In the evening we joined Shangreiwon at her restaurant Popa for a Tangkhul meal. The delicious spread consisted of unique dishes like khai akahur, hoksa ann, yongchak khanai, yongchak khangui, harsanai, maimu hansi haan, champut etc. which we were tried for the first time. The highlight of these dishes were the use of minimal ingredients.
A luscious chakhao rice cake and chakhao tea served as the perfect end to this soulful meal. Both the experiences left us with such huge knowledge about the marvelous food culture of Manipur.
**Despite the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur, we made a conscious yet hard decision to proceed with our food video series from the state which was filmed between 30th Jan and 3rd feb 2023.
Our intention was to showcase the incredible warmth, love, kindness, camaraderie and enthusiasm we encountered during this immersive visit.
It's essential to acknowledge the complexities the state is going through, but we firmly believe in highlighting the genuine goodness of the people whom we met during this wonderful journey.
Throughout the five-day tour, we encountered a heartwarming display of hospitality, generosity and harmony. We want to reassure that our approach remains sensitive and respectful towards the ordeal being faced by the people of Manipur.**
/ shangmulthou
/ popa_cakesandbakes
/ northeastcuisines
About the host:
anubhavsapra.com/
Facebook: / delhifoodwalks
Twitter: / delhifoodwalks
Instagram: / delhifoodwalks
Design and filmed by Rahul Singh
/ iamrahulsingh.2
Text by Swetaleena Nayak

[@FoodCultureKnowledge]

Much respect to the Daadi Ji still working at 95, running her business for almost 70 years. Inspirational 🙏

[@Reddylion]

Hmm

[@KeeraShiro]

this market is so clean.. not our other typical messy markets....kudos to these women...

[@Kiran-eu4gt]

The lady running the flitters shop is my all time go to place for pakoras..she is just amazing ,,I never miss eating boras at her place whenever I am home ❤️

[@delhifoodwalks]

So good

[@Dua958]

Some grandmas who sell in the ema market are filthy rich with sons n daughter who r officers but they still sit in the stalls - not to earn money but to enjoy the people n energy.

[@Nongrouli]

Thats right socializing place

[@brawlstar5229]

First they were not rich....mother worked hard and made them officers but even after becoming rich they don't forget their roots and also becomes a habits....and yes they enjoy themselves....they don't need to relay on son or daughter much for their basic needs.

[@Dua958]

@@brawlstar5229 do u know the meaning of “some grandmas” ?? If u dont personally know each one of them to argue my point, please shut up. I know a few n they r filthy rich.

[@Satanabi]

My grandma used to sell phanek too. Ive seen many grandmas whose grandchildren are doctors and engineers

[@unknowndude6853]

@@brawlstar5229 ahhh those grandmas are retired government servant

[@jovendrawahengbam5530]

I think this video is recorded before the ongoing crisis in manipur. Hoping that such goodness return ASAP.

[@chittaranjannahakpam470]

PROUD OF OUR HARDWORKING EMA'S(MOTHER'S).❤

[@mangopudding5979]

People of Manipur and North East India in general are simply the best.

[@chilarai1]

Very interesting video bhai. In Assam, the Manipuri restaurants are very popular and the Manipuri thali is excellent. I must go there soon as it is very similar to Assam.

[@ngaopuniis1892]

EMA Market is the best, among all the wonen market in the world, in my view. I won't exaggerate, as i have visited and seen it, now our gov't is setting up IMA Market in all the district of manipur. I would like you to visit all the IMA Market and feel and taste it's own flavour with own style of cooking with love🤲💓

[@RhisonSapam]

Thank you @Delhi Food Walks for exploring the beauty of Manipur 🥰

[@pantisingliuruangmei6400]

After seeing all the markets ,I miss home and the place where you are eating sinju the favourite place of all❤❤

[@elizabethp-7376]

thank u for visiting Manipur and exploring our food. Thagatchari

[@kantipatel9485]

Very Well Presented and Photographed Photographed Travel Food Documentary. God Bless All Involved. KP777 and Family London UK

[@mugu03joshi]

Sugarcane syrup is called Kakvi in maharashtra.... this stage is before jaggery.... visit satara or kolhapur... u ll come to know

[@neelkonwar4328]

Thank you for focusing on the state , nothing like mother's love which can change any dynamics.

[@delhifoodwalks]

Absolutely!

[@ItsSimplyAshish]

Hatsoff to Anubhav bhai, have been watching his videos since a long time now, It feels so good he and his team has started to explore the whole india, where no one was thinking to go, your team has started visiting almost all parts of India, one side you went Vidharbha, next i can see you guys here , wow, and such beautiful and so much amount of cuisine we have in our country, Delhi food walks is creating history, and has been a video documentary of indian food..Amazing , kudos to whole team and anubhav bhai, for showing such interest in all type of food.

[@kalpanasharma5000]

Beautiful place n beautiful people 💕 Thanks for making such great videos. Proud of you sir 😊🇮🇳 🙏

[@NailsbyNeelam]

Those black rice rotis my all time fav. Its been more than 3 years I hvnt visited my home town. Ur videos takes me back to those lovely times I spend at my place. Its nowhere to be found in other parts of the contry.

[@nixonraj]

Wow ! I'd be like a kid in a candy store in this market. I'll try EVERYTHING that walks , crawls or flies or swims. This market is like a pandoras box to me. Can;t wait now, Manipur, here I come.

[@rechealvin2542]

My Place , One the of most Kindest Women around the globe . Manipur #Emamarket

[@FunTravelLondon]

I will be in Delhi Next week for Food & Travel Vlogs. Tons of Love ❤❤❤ for India. Stephanie from London

[@delhifoodwalks]

Join our food tour in Delhi ! Check out our website delhifoodwalks.com

[@FunTravelLondon]

Thanks@@delhifoodwalks

[@jamirla]

Awesome video. Very good content. Thank you, Delhi Food Walks.

[@Ashishmeawesome]

You are awesome sir, doing great work. Keep it up and continue bringing such places to mainstream.

[@bharatinongmaithem8586]

Thank you for visiting Manipur

[@pradippradipkumarlaishram162]

Thkq for exposed to Manipur especially ema market and I'm so happy to see our ema's(mother's)... Lastly thkq so much Eche for interprete ...

[@madhavvalase8950]

Very unique food... !! More close to nature, healthy..!! Simplicity of the food is much much appreciated...!! 👍👍👍

[@Chevalierraymond]

Ima Market, or Ima Keithel is the name of the market. Please visit again to enjoy Meitei delicacies and Meitei hospitality. :-)

[@libastonprograms]

Nice video. That looks really delicious and fun. Thank you for your sharing. Have a great day my friend

[@sinachilles9086]

My mother’s takhul friend used to bring tangkhul style Hoksa first time it was a bit weird but for some reason the taste got stuck on my tongue after the first bite I used to tell my mother to let her make it now she’s at another state I really miss the taste of it

[@maheshdhaimode441]

Market was good n food🍲🍲🍲 at house🏠🏠🏠 was good👍👍👍

[@Youtubehandle598]

Please try tharoi thongba (snail curry) pakaura (besan kofta) and ilishaga paan thongba (hilsa taro root curry)

[@SameerKapoor-j3s]

Manipur market main chicken roll bahut badia golgappe bahut ache hai

[@jayb7586]

Awesome episode❤😊

[@IndiaEkJannat]

Awesome & beautiful video Sir🙏👍

[@ngairangbamyaipharembi7588]

Thank you so much for visiting my state.

[@delhifoodwalks]

Our pleasure!

[@Konsam-u1t]

Nowadays the street food in Manipur Imphal is increasing and there are many other places that you can visit too please do come to Manipur again I like the way how the whole video is filmed will always support you .

[@prawalkonwar8347]

Just because you find a language difficult doesn't mean you make fun of it. Hindi is only spoken by one part of the nation. You cannot expect everyone to be like you in a country like India. Even the Southern States are not ready to accept your linguistic domination over them. India remains stronger by accepting the differences and showing Mutual respect. Even people from the Southern States and the Northeast find certain things about the Hindi belt which are funny and Stupid at the same time. Respect❤

[@zen9131]

Bro chill… it’s not him laughing… it’s the lady and the staff laughing at his wrong pronunciation. As a manipuri even I found it hilarious especially the lady 😂😂😂

[@PahadiSher]

lol. Whoa, don't cut yourself on that edge, kid.😂

[@MarkDcosta697]

He never makes fun of any ethnicity. He is extremely humble and liberal. Stop viewing things from your narrow mindee perspective.

[@riturajborah382]

Thank you for this amazing work! You are an amzing Anubhav! ❤

[@p157706]

Thank you for highlighting Manipur

[@angkurbarua]

Very lovely music to go with the video... 😍

[@ShreyaShree2008]

i have lived in imphal fr almost 14 years and use to visit ema market with my father im my childhood

[@ningombamthamson8709]

How was the experience?

[@simamangang6902]

Do Visit loktak lake 😊

[@samiazaffar7096]

I really enjoyed his series of mani pur.

[@abhijitandneices8777]

Delhi mubai assam ka market se compare karru to Manipur ema market jada clean he❤❤❤

[@RAMESHSINGH-my5gd]

Nice vlog sirji❤

[@shalabhkaushik7187]

Too good video...

[@MarkDcosta697]

Best food vloger in India ❤

[@KipsonTV1994]

Thank you sir for exploring my motherland Manipur 🤎🤎🤎

[@half_a_potato]

Much respect for showing him around but i just want to clear one thing. She said there aren't many vegetables options but most of the places have a veg and a non veg options and some restaurant are pure veg if u don't eat meat.

[@khimageoflife6468]

Thank you for exploring my state Manipur.

[@RenGoku-i2g]

Truly magnificent

[@deepaknikam8198]

OUR ANCIENT MIGHTY BEAUTIFUL BHARAT IS INCREDIBLY RICH BEYOND IMAGINATION ❤❤❤... VANDE MATARAM🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳...

[@MrAtulAgnihotri]

Great Effort Sir

[@Mystery.manthe]

Nice video sir

[@tajinderkaurgurudatta1632]

Very nice waheguruji blees you all be happy ❤ 😊 🎉🎉🎉

[@Aditya61845]

Very good series but people are not appreciating it❤

[@AditiNath1234]

Super👍👍

[@prafullakumarsinhasinha3341]

I agree with opinion on language for mutual respect. What should be national language Mr Gyani

[@santasubba4225]

SIr, you are addicted to kom kwa😂😂😂 I love your videos very much❤

[@Nsingha9]

ema market 😊

[@konsamprincesingh7763]

Fresh kwa is quite intoxicating.

[@vky863]

Aapne ye series kb shoot ki thi...❤❤❤

[@delhifoodwalks]

Jan end mein

[@SameerKapoor-j3s]

Loktaal lake subhash chander jee ka musium hai

[@TheSumit22]

Meitie people are lovely and civilized, unfortunately they are under attack by savages

[@samiazaffar7096]

Who are those savages?

[@mangslai]

​@@samiazaffar7096kukis or we can say the community who wants to break Manipur 😡 😠😠

[@rbungba223]

Meitei are best in vegetable and fish dish..... Hill tribes are best in pork.... Meitei muslim has beef...

[@leonardotonjam]

meitei eat all😂

[@gourabsarker9552]

Sir come to khulna Bangladesh

[@beastmakku4100]

Its time to change your channel name to "INDIA FOOD WALK"

[@worldshorts24]

Manipur is similar to korea , like perilla seeds, black rice ,pork and chives

[@Rkhu]

And every youth here act like Koreans 😂. Crazy fans of kdrama n kpop

[@sabihatanveer8494]

Yam nungaijere😅❤👌

[@angomsuraj3568]

The host iz super cool ..

[@sangaichef2018]

@@angomsuraj3568 thank you very much

[@Greyhound0111]

What is the weather cold in Imphal in this month ?

[@viteshworitrichal866]

Cold during Nov to Feb, pleasant in March, april, September and October. Rainy from May to july

[@PanthoiPanthoi]

Grtttt

[@mynamejeff9274]

4:09 Him: very strong yarr Her:omg🤣

[@smangisingh7244]

Chak Hao means chak means Rice n Hao meanse Tasty means "Tasty Rice", sorry she couldn't explain u properly n i don't see for Shirui Hill n Dzuko Valley, these two places are unique places for all over the world as Sangai of Manipur.

[@nganthoibidevi5774]

Sir apne yea violence ki age shoot Kiya tha ya kb

[@delhifoodwalks]

pehle kiya tha jan/feb mein

[@AdventurewithD2HN]

Is it safe for tourists to visit there in this period of time..

[@Rkhu]

Valley and naga hill areas are totally safe. No worries.

[@Reddylion]

Nice

[@delhifoodwalks]

Thanks

[@preetyrk4521]

The supaari is not fermented it’s the fresh supari 😅

[@SameerKapoor-j3s]

Imphal Hotel best

[@bomcaflin7342]

❤❤❤❤

[@themaverick4992]

Bhai manipur mein jo problem th khathan ho gaya kya, tum kaise waha shooting kar rahe ho, chalo acha hai, waha ke log shanthi se jee toh sakhenge 🙏🏻

[@chetankarkera622]

❤

[@joni.kashyap6511]

Hello sir kaise ho aap

[@delhifoodwalks]

bas theek, aap kaise hai ?

[@Meiteilady]

😭I don't understand when all people trying to establish peace in Manipur you are trying to gain some millions of views by showing our market, this is not the right time for doing this kind of stuff, here we are trying to save lives of our family please don't make use of Manipur name right now ,may be we appreciate this in peace times😢😢😢😢😢

[@Dayathongam]

This was filmed in jan as a manipuri especially meitei i would like to see more ❤ we should support more of these videos those were good old days before kuki invaded imphal 😢😭

[@mitsukisasuke8078]

It's good that he showed the richness culture of our manipur... This proves that how healthy and peaceful Manipur was before the war started to destroy the peaceful loving state Manipur. Let's pray for betterment of Manipur to bring back the normalcy and to restore peace... Thanks alot for exploring let the whole world knows the beauty of Manipur.

[@Sarung89]

It’s a good thing to show peace and harmony.. negative oigumse

[@alienangom116]

Si kuki gi fake account oidoine positivity uba ngmdrije thorabije

[@cosmicharmony5877]

Nah not the because of the fermentation of supari, its because of Dimak me chuna laggai isliye sir ghumi And my hindi is not good

[@reacttube653]

🙏🙏🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@inderneilboseroychowdhury]

🙏👍👌👏

[@SameerKapoor-j3s]

Mynmaar bhi jana bina visa ke

[@ishantrana7510]

Camera ke samne itni izzat se khate hai aur of camera pelam paal

[@gobindotho3617]

wrong information....lots of veg dishes are available in the valley area...in tribal areas you will hardly find veg dishes......huhhhhh

[@Shimberino]

The hill area has the Kuki brothers too not just the tangkhuls . Sad to see their culture not being showcased because of the war and confusion

[@mynamejeff9274]

Of course not only kuki,kabui ,Kom etc etc too Manipur have lots community

[@mangslai]

I don't want to say kuki is from Manipur because they wanted to break our mother land

[@Kellybelly915]

It's funny when you can't pronounce 'ng'😂...good content ❤

[@warthog2502]

Blenders pride Honey 😂

[@rashmidattani3117]

:)

[@Uniligent]

Typical North Indian 💬 All Indian should look like me, speak my language eats my food or else he is not indian. Man are you for real 😅 like its 2023 have some knowledge about your country.

[@kylemchynn9376]

Most of these women have high attitudes. Don't touch or check on the goods unless you buy them. That sucks!

[@samiazaffar7096]

We have got many Vietnamese nail bars in UK. They have no manner and customer services. Have big attitudes. These people look like the same breed.

[@rameshchandra8436]

That's not true.

[@Rkhu]

Bts is funny 😂😂, most north indian fine it difficukt to pronounce "ng" sound.

[@GautamKeishamisdead]

Why are you making an english bred women your guide in Manipur? Her knowledge about Manipuri ingredients is very poor.

[@fichoudhury4432]

ill explained . poor narration

[@delhifoodwalks]

What’s poor narrative here ?

[@varunyoung7569]

माननीय सपरा जी अगर हो सके तो पोर्क और बीफ की वीडियो न ही बनाये कृपया सभी धर्मों का सम्मान करें ये गुज़रिस है आप से please

[@Vibraniuum]

Aapse gujarish hai aap bhi unke culture ko samjhe aur unka samman karein , aapko video ke jis bhaag se dikkat hai usko skip kar dein. Jab wo wahan ke khaan-paan aur rahan-sahan ka video bana rhe to jo wahan ke log khaate hain wahi dikhayenge na.

[@samiazaffar7096]

He is only showing those not feeding any one.

[@Sakhongakpa]

But it’s the culture of that place. He is showcasing the way of life of the state. Why won’t he show it? Please do not forget. India is a diverse country.