Exploring how urban food systems adapt to increasingly harsh heat by taking into account the people who prepare, sell, and deliver food, the infrastructure they rely on, and the everyday practices that offer them relief.
A Nashik-based brand retailing small-batch masalas, pickles, and specialty flours made using tried-and-tested family recipes from regions across India.
Founded in 2022, Nutwarii Farms grows chemical-free produce in Budbud, West Bengal.
VaanaVizha grows chemical-free produce such as rice, coconuts, moringa, neem, bananas, and different varieties of citrus fruits on their 12-acre farm in Vikramasingapuram in the Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu. All phot…
Cocoacraft focuses on making high-quality, couverture chocolate in Kochi, Kerala.
A Mumbai-based brand sourcing produce from farmers across India who do not use any pesticides or chemical inputs for cultivation.
Founded in 2025 by Sravanthi Edara, So Himalayas sources seasonal fruits from farmers across the Kullu district in Himachal Pradesh to make small-batch fruit preserves and dehydrated fruit chips.
Established in 2018 by siblings Aijulie, Boilal, Jemshe, and Julie Gangte, Forest Pick sources and retails wild tea from the hills adjoining the Churachandpur district in southern Manipur.
Retailing high quality produce native to the Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh.
This deeply aromatic curry from coastal Tamil Nadu features stingray.
Randa Papiah, Toy Sumer, and Hunlang Papiah recall their memories of catching dohthli (snakehead fish) in the paddy fields of Meghalaya during the rice harvesting season.
Charota bhaji is often served with pej (corn water), making for a light yet satiating dish.
The paddy fields of Meghalaya play a crucial role in shaping this fish preparation.
This recipe for blue swimming crabs is whipped up after a long day of hard labour.
Putpura mushrooms, foraged from beneath sal trees during the monsoon, are a seasonal delicacy among tribal communities in central India.
In Meghalaya, Eri silkworm pupae are often eaten after the silk cocoon has been harvested.
Women and their labour remain central to agricultural production and our food systems, yet they remain landless, excluded from the legal and institutional structures that define who counts as a farmer in the first place. This multimedia storytelling initiative, led by The Locavore in partnership with the Doc Society Climate Story Kitchen, seeks to broaden the conversation.
About the project
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This short-grained rice turns soft and fluffy on cooking, emanating a warm, nutty, and mildly sweet fragrance.
This long-grained red rice has a chewy texture and slightly nutty flavour, with a warm, aromatic fragrance.
A bold, savoury spice blend made with black pepper, pigeon peas, tamarind and chillies, specifically designed for making a deeply aromatic pepper kuzhambu.
Handcrafted from the sap of palmyra trees, this traditional jaggery has a deep caramel sweetness with subtle chocolatey notes.
A rich, malty and caramel-like natural sweetener made by simmering mahua flowers in water and concentrating their natural sweetness.
Sweet and chocolatey energy bars handcrafted with sun-dried mahua flowers, bajra (pearl millet), and cocoa from the Karavali region in Karnataka.
Encased in hard brown shells, these pine nuts—locally called chilgoza—are sweet and nutty.
A smooth 52% dark chocolate studded with whole roasted almonds, with a balanced cocoa flavour and plenty of crunch.
— Shirik Chingri, who runs Indigenous Basket, a shop in Bengaluru
![“[These manuscripts are] our heritage—we must preserve it”](https://i0.wp.com/thelocavore.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Isbah.jpeg?fit=720%2C576&ssl=1)
—Isbah Khan, Persian scholar, Rampur
—Janabi and Samir, a couple running a gaddo in Goa
—Ibadapmon Barim, 32, Khweng village, Meghalaya
—Kalabai Merawi, 45, Kannai village, Madhya Pradesh
Two stories we love from the archives
What happens when an indigenous ingredient earns a largely notorious reputation due to archaic excise policies? How does one reintroduce it to modern diets, while preserving indigenous knowledge? We gather perspectives f…
Golden pumpkin flowers, red roselles, magenta eggplants, and various shades of green everywhere you look. At Kolkata’s Gariahat Bajaar, shaak maashis bring a variety of winter greens foraged from the outskirts of the cit…
An expanding repository about ingredients native to the Indian subcontinent
These globe-shaped onion flowers signal the arrival of winter in Bengal.
These heart-shaped leaves are underutilised yet versatile and nutritious.
A delight from the Himalayan foothills, peaches are sweet stone fruits with fuzzy skin.
These mud-caked tubers are popular in winters in southern India.
Found in tropical regions, this reddish-brown heart-shaped fruit is sought for its sweet, creamy flesh.
These tart, tangy leaves are an inherent part of Telugu cuisine and culture.
Loquat trees are laden with bright orange fruit just as winter starts to recede.
Also known as King’s Berries, mulberries are delicate, tart summer staples.
A session focused on the urban consumer’s plate, examining how our seafood choices shape marine biodiversity, local livelihoods, and culinary diversity.
A Malayalam-language film revolving around a newly married woman’s struggles in a conservative, patriarchal household nudges us to think about the harsh realities that gender and labour spawn within domestic spaces.
Chef on the Road travels to Two Brothers Organic Farms in rural Maharashtra for a two-day immersion into organic farming as lived practice—walking the farm, cooking with the harvest, and learning alongside the Hange brot…
Facilitated by No Footprints, the walk was a comprehensive exploration of the many facets of Mumbai’s Worli Koliwada.
