People may recognize Shibu Cherussery from the Cafe Mustard Seed food truck that often comes through Concord for a farmer’s market, a private catered event, the Concord Multicultural Festival or to deliver meals to subscribers to its weekly route.
Cherussery and his wife Liza, of Concord, started their food truck and catering business after he arrived in March 2016 as an immigrant from India.
At first, Cherussery, now 33, didn’t know what to do for work. Back in India, he was an Ayurvedic medicine practitioner, treating patients who came from around the world. Practitioners of Ayurveda in India undergo “state-recognized, institutionalized training,” but are not licensed here in the United States, according to John Hopkins Medicine.
First Cherussery and his wife sold food at small farmers markets.
“Then I get bigger farmers market. And I started from food truck,” Cherussery said.
Eventually, the couple plan to establish a restaurant in Concord.
Cherussery said his transition from one of the most-populated countries in the world to one of the least-populated states in the country continues. Sometimes he senses that people in Concord avoid him, because they don’t know who he is or where he’s from.
“I feel like they’re afraid to talk to me, you know?” Cherussery said.
One day he was shopping, and a person challenged him for being an immigrant.
“They want to fight with me without reason,” Cherussery said.
Overall, though, he now feels more accepted.
“Nowadays it’s much better. Not everyone is friendly, but a bunch of people are friendly, very friendly compared to other places I’ve been.”
Cherussery traveled extensively before moving to the United States, including to Dubai, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and places in the Middle East and Europe. He had time to travel, because back in India he worked ten months of the year: five in the mountain region and five closer to the South Sea.
After all that moving around, Cherussery considers “home” to be wherever he is close to family. For him, family includes the people you care about in addition to relatives.
Some of his first memories of settling in New Hampshire include arriving in the cold and having to rush to buy a winter jacket, discovering the beauty of maple trees and the deliciousness of maple syrup, and being surrounded by snow every winter. Back in India snow was something way up on the Himalayan mountains.
Living now in Gilmanton, the Cherusserys have built connections with people throughout central New Hampshire. Because of these ties, Cherussery and his family have been able to share and learn about a variety of Indian and African foods and customs.
“We have a few families here from different countries,” Cherussery said. “We make some traditional things for them. We all come together with cooking and celebrating for someone else in our home.”
This profile is part of a series written by students in Linda Lawson’s journalism class at Concord High School, as part of a collaborative community storytelling project with the Concord Multicultural Festival and Report for America.