$14.99Venba Cooking to remember
Venba is a short narrative cooking game about a South Indian mother who moves to Canada with her family in the 1980s. You restore her damaged recipe book, cook idlis, dosas and biriyani, and follow the family through love and loss. Warm hand-drawn art and Tamil-inspired music carry a story that lands hard in about two hours.
Is Venba worth it?
Venba is worth it if…
- you like short, story-first games you can finish in one evening
- you like family dramas about parents and children, love and loss
- you like food as storytelling, with real South Indian dishes to learn
- you like reading dialogue over hand-drawn, colorful scenes with music
Screenshots
A family story told through food
You play as Venba, a mother holding on to home through cooking after immigration. Between dishes you read branching conversations with her husband and son as they grow, argue, and reckon with culture and acceptance.
You piece together a torn page where half the steps are missing, then add ingredients and stir until the memory comes back. The puzzles are simple and forgiving, so the focus stays on what the meal means. It is a sad, tender story in a 1 to 2-hour sitting, best taken in one go.
Reading, listening, looking
For visual novel readers, the draw is the telling. Dialogue carries the plot over warm, stylized drawings, with a cinematic pace and an original soundtrack inspired by Tamil music. An in-game radio lets you replay the songs.
The art makes the food look almost edible, and the music shifts with the years covered by the story. There is little to manage and nothing timed, so you can settle into reading, cooking a chapter, then reading on.
What else should you know?
How long is it?
It is built as a single sitting, about 1 to 2 hours from start to finish. The story moves across years in short chapters, with a cooking puzzle in each, so it reads like a compact film rather than a long series.
What do you actually do while cooking?
You work from incomplete recipes: figure out the missing step from conversation hints, then select, pour, stir and flip through the dish. You also get a cookbook version you can try in your own kitchen afterward.
Is there much choice in the conversations?
Conversations branch, but the throughline stays the same family story. Choices shape moments and tone rather than sending you down separate routes, which suits readers who want a focused narrative.
Do you need to know South Indian food first?
No. The game teaches each dish as you restore it, from idlis to biriyani, and explains the steps in play. Newcomers get an introduction, and familiar cooks get regional details to recognize.
