CACAO RESIDENCY
3 immersive days to study the art, skill, and practice behind slow food, farming, and storytelling.
Where: Varanashi Organic Farms, Karnataka
When: October 10–12, 2025
Fee: INR 35,000 per head (sharing accommodation)
INR 45,000 per head (non-sharing accommodation)
Itinerary
DAY 1 — FRIDAY, OCT 10
12:00 PM — Arrival & Farm-Fresh Lunch A community lunch featuring produce from the farm. Meet your fellow residents and hosts.
2:30 PM — Walking the Land: A Forager’s Walk and Harvest with Partha Varanashi A guided exploration of the farm. Learn about seasonal crops, wild edibles, and how a farm tells its own stories.
4:30 PM — Tea & Snacks
5:00 PM — Field to Jar Fermentation Masterclass with Eleni Michael
Work together with Eleni to transform the harvested farm produce into probiotic deliciousness. Learn the fundamentals of fermentation over conversation and a hands-on workshop.
6:30 PM — How to Find Stories in Unexpected Places using the Camera on Your Phone with Bhavya Pansari An interactive session on understanding your phone camera and sharpening your eye for stories — in people, ingredients, or landscapes. From technical basics to tips on framing, light, and capturing details that tell a story. Learn how to ask better questions, read between the lines, and notice the unnoticed. Storytelling assignment for Day 2 assigned.
8:00 PM — Community Dinner Under the Stars by Chef Goku
DAY 2 — SATURDAY, OCT 11
8:30 AM — Farmhouse Breakfast
9:00 AM — Storytelling assignment by Bhavya Pansari
9:30 AM — Lessons in Regenerative Farming: Building a Farm that Heals the Land & its People by Partha Varanashi Explore the principles of regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, and soil-first thinking. Understand how farm systems can regenerate ecosystems and communities.
11:00 AM — Bean to Bar: Developing Flavours in the Chocolate Lab with Ketaki Churi Hands-on in the chocolate lab: discover how fermentation, roasting, and origin influence chocolate flavour. Then make your own tasting bar!
12:30 PM — Lunch of Farm Grains & Forest Greens
2:00 PM — Peer Review + Basics of Editing with Bhavya Pansari Review each story through a critical lens. Sharpen your editorial instincts, learn how to give and receive feedback, and refine your storytelling with thoughtful edits.
4:00 PM — Tea & Snacks
4:30 PM — Craft Chocolate Tasting with Patricia Cosma A curated tasting of single-origin chocolate / cacao drink. Learn to taste for notes, terroir, and how fermentation and soil impact flavour).
6:30 PM — Fire & Feast: Dinner Prep with Chef Goku Another hands-on session — focus on open-fire techniques and simple, flavour-forward dishes.
8:00 PM — Farm Table Dinner & Fireside Conversations
DAY 3 — SUNDAY, OCT 12
8:30 AM — Farmhouse Breakfast
9:00 AM — From Soil to Gut — Understanding Nutrition & Microbiomes with Partha Varanasi How the health of soil links to gut health — the science behind diverse diets, soil microbes, and nutrition bioavailability.
10:30 AM — Food as Story: How to Tell Stories Through Ingredients & Traditions with Anisha Oommen & Patricia Cosma A collaborative conversation and exercise on finding narratives within food, from community recipes to cultural context.
12:30 PM — Lunch by the Lake: A Harvest Feast A celebratory meal cooked with what you’ve harvested, prepped, and learned, featuring contributions from the resident chefs and participants.
2:00 PM — Goodbyes & Transfers to Airport/City
Your Residency Pass Covers:
Round-trip transport from Mangalore airport
Curated farm-to-table meals by Chef Goku
Comfortable onsite stay with all meals included
Full access to all residency sessions
Tea, coffee, and snacks stocked in your cottage
Open access to scenic farm trails for morning walks
ABOUT THE HOSTS
Varanashi Organic Farms
Varanashi Organic Farms is a 100-acre regenerative farm in Moodambailu, Karnataka, passed down through six generations of the Varanashi family since 1816. The farm specialises in a multi-storey cropping system to grow arecanut, cocoa, nutmeg, pepper, rice, fruits, and vegetables. Sixty percent of the land remains an untouched forest, supporting rich biodiversity. The farm is also a centre for ecological learning, offering immersive volunteer programs, a canopy-level treehouse stay, and hands-on workshops and retreats in sustainable living, cacao processing, and permaculture.
Partha Varanashi
Partha Varanashi is a regenerative farmer, molecular biologist, and sixth-generation owner of Varanashi Organic Farms. He has a Master’s in Agricultural Biotechnology from the University of Adelaide and has worked with the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics and LawrieCo Biological Farming. A certified swim coach and Director of Surf Life Saving India, he coached Team India at the 2019 FINA World Championships. At the farm, he leads its volunteer programs, sustainability workshops, and movement-based learning.
Bhavya Pansari
Bhavya Pansari is a multidisciplinary photographer, filmmaker, and creative director known for capturing soulful, unvarnished stories through slow, analog-driven imagery. Bhavya's work is tactile, evocative, and film-inspired—the kind that leans into mood, texture, and the small rituals weaving everyday life and food cultures together.
Eleni Michael
Eleni Michael is a food anthropologist and fermentation educator whose work bridges farm-to-table traditions with contemporary culinary practice. Drawing on experience across the UK, Europe, the US and India, she leads workshops, talks, and immersive dining experiences that bring people together through the shared language of fermentation.
Chef Goku
Chef Goku is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has trained at acclaimed Michelin-starred restaurants including Aureole, The Clocktower, Rezdora, and Blackbird. As R&D Chef at Junoon, New York, he contributed to the restaurant’s forward-thinking approach to contemporary Indian cuisine. His expertise also extends to the pastry world, having worked with Dominique Ansel Bakery, where he refined his craft across diverse culinary disciplines.
Currently, Chef Goku curates pop-up dinners across India, weaving together indigenous ingredients with global techniques to create dynamic, story-driven menus that celebrate the country’s rich diversity. Through his journey, he is dedicated to documenting native ingredients and supporting local farmers, fishing and pastoral communities, tribal foragers, as well as India’s emerging craft chocolate makers and artisanal cheesemakers.
Ketaki Churi
Ketaki Churi is a dedicated bean-to-bar chocolate artisan and cacao specialist with over seven years of experience transforming raw cacao into quality craft chocolate. She is the Co‑Founder, Indian Cacao & Craft Chocolate Festival — brings together artisans, farmers, and consumers to elevate India’s craft chocolate ecosystem
Patricia Cosma
A Romanian-born champion of craft chocolate, Patricia Cosma is renowned for building bridges between cocoa farmers and chocolate artisans across India—transforming the nation’s cocoa landscape. Her advocacy spotlights sustainable sourcing, empowers farmers, and celebrates the minute differences in bean origins. She’s not just talking chocolate—she’s creating a movement grounded in taste, community, and cultural preservation. She is the Co‑Founder, Indian Cacao & Craft Chocolate Festival, a movement celebrating single-origin cacao, small-batch craft chocolate, and bean-to-bar processes
Anisha Rachel Oommen
Anisha Rachel Oommen is a writer, editor, and media entrepreneur who has shaped the conversation around contemporary Indian food culture. As Co‑Founder and Editorial Director of Goya Media, she leads a multidisciplinary team that crafts narrative-driven content, brand storytelling, and culinary experiences — all rooted in the belief that food is the most powerful lens to explore people, places, and communities.