Since 1961, India’s camel populations have seen an alarming decline. Shirin Mehrotra explores the nuances of mainstreaming camel milk, shifting views among camel-herding communities, and the challenges that still lie ahead.
It is seven in the morning. I am at a small farmland in Sadri, a town in Rajasthan’s Marwar region, surrounded by camels. I am learning the names of the camels when Gamnaram Dewasi ji—the senior camel herder of the local Raika community—positions himself next to one of the camels. With his right foot resting on his left thigh and a stainless-steel pot balanced on his folded leg, he starts milking the camel.
Soon the pot is filled with white frothy milk. It is offered to us to drink in a makeshift cup made with folded aak (milkweed) leaf. The herders carry aak leaves in their pagdi—headgear—for days when they are moving around with their herd, to use as a cup to drink milk from. I am drinking camel milk for the first time. I am not hesitant, but I do have certain pre-conceived notions about its taste. I am expecting a strong hit of aroma, but as soon as the fresh milk touches my lips, I am pleasantly surprised.
The milk is warm, light, has minimal aroma—milder than cow or buffalo milk—and has a savoury note to it. There’s a delightful echo of “oh!” in the air as we, a group of curious urban dwellers, taste the milk one by one. Meanwhile, Madaram Dewasi ji starts a small fire to make chai. The saltiness of the camel milk adds a rounded flavour to the sweet chai.
A few days before I had my first sip of camel milk, I was at the Abu Dhabi airport transiting from Delhi to Istanbul. I happened to spot packaged and flavoured camel milk on the shelves of a few stores; not a novelty in the Gulf region where a lot of money has been pumped into the upkeep of camels and the marketing of camel milk.
In India, though, camel milk has emerged as a ‘superfood’ only recently during the Covid-19 pandemic, owing to its immunity-boosting properties, including the fact that it is low in fat, and high in insulin, vitamin, and iron—ten times more than cow milk. Camel Charisma, a social enterprise based in Sadri, Rajasthan, develops and promotes camel-based products. Co-founded by conservationist Hanwant Singh Rathore, Camel Charisma takes orders online and ships frozen camel milk and camel milk powder across India. Given that camel milk is considered ideal for those with lactose intolerance, more consumers are trying it, ordering it, and consuming it regularly.
While dairy consumption has primarily been associated with health and nutrition in India, we also use the language of taste and flavour while talking about bovine milk. However, the same vocabulary hasn’t been extended to pastoral milk, especially camel milk. But, like me, almost everyone I spoke with for the story, who has tasted camel milk for the first time, has been left with an altered perception.
“I had tasted camel milk years ago on a highway in Bikaner, and I remember it being quite funky [in flavour]. At the time, I wasn’t aware of the nuances that influence the flavour. But the experience at Raika Riches (curated by Camel Charisma at their facility to introduce consumers to the nuances of camel milk production and the social and ecological aspects of camel herding) completely changed my perspective. The freshly milked camel milk there was smooth, clean, and delicious, without any of the funk I had previously associated it with,” says Radhika Khandelwal, chef and owner of Fig and Maple in Delhi.
Aakriti Srivastava, founder of Bahula Naturals—a community-owned and -run pastoral milk brand—shares an interesting anecdote when senior government officials who were initially hesitant to try the milk eventually agreed that it is fairly accessible in terms of taste and flavour. But for Anshul Ojha, founder and director of Desert Resource Centre, a partner organisation of URMUL Seemant Samiti that has been working with the communities in Bajju towards building self reliance, the problem is bigger than this initial hesitation. “It is the way we consume our food. We have been so templated to sugars and ultra-processed foods in the last 15-20 years that it is difficult for us to understand a wide range of tastes. Our palate has reduced, and that’s a huge problem. It’s the same with millets—people are hesitant to try it. It’s difficult to change habits in India,” he says.
"It is the way we consume our food. We have been so templated to sugars and ultra-processed foods in the last 15-20 years that it is difficult for us to understand a wide range of tastes."
In India, we do not have a history of drinking camel milk, its consumption being limited to the camel-rearing communities. One of the reasons is that camel herders, especially the Raika community of Rajasthan (Bishnoi and Sindhi Muslim are some of the other camel-rearing communities in the region), share a profound relationship with their animals.
According to Indian mythology, camels were created by Parvati while she was playing with some clay. Shiva poured life into them and sent Raikas to take care of this majestic creature. The nomadic community strongly believes in the myth and practises camel rearing like a religion. Since camels are treated as family members, selling their milk for profit has been taboo.
Traditionally, camel herders earned a living by using camels for transportation. The annual fair hosted in Pushkar in Rajasthan was a ground for camel trade where male camels were bought and sold (to be used for transportation and farm work in other states of the country) at a hefty price. But in 2015, the BJP-led Rajasthan government passed the Rajasthan Camel (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration and Export) Act, which came as a setback for the community, affecting their major source of income.
An alarming decline in camel populations
With no money to spare for the upkeep of the animal—it takes rupees 300-350 per day to care for one camel, which includes food, water, shelter, and healthcare—herders had to let go of their herd, resulting in the decline of camel population across the country—from nearly a million in 1961 to around 2,50,000 as per the livestock census in 2019. The ban on grazing grounds has also added to this decline.
“Camels cannot be stall-fed like cows, they will fall sick and die. They eat from about 30-35 trees and shrubs that grow wild in the region; they need open land for grazing,” says Dr. Ilse Kohler-Rollefson, co-founder of the League for Pastoral People and Camel Charisma.
In the Marwar region, camels have been banned in Kumbalgarh Sanctuary, historically the grazing grounds for animals. There is now a plan to start a tiger reserve there—a move that would further threaten the camels as well as the tribal culture. In the Kutch region, too, the kharai camels—the only breed that can swim—depend on mangroves as their primary source of food. But, the ban on grazing in Kutch Marine National Park—located in the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat—has been tough on the animals.
This alarming decline is also disruptive to the ecosystem. Camels are not only used for transportation, but also have an important role to play in the ecology of the region. Camels can cover large distances, and eat from a wide variety of trees and shrubs rich in phytonutrients. This feed is turned into nutritious milk for the calf and productive manure for the land. Their hooves are also soft, which means as they walk on the farmland, they inadvertently till it without causing harm to the soil.
“There was a time when farmers invited our herds to stay on the land because the manure was so beneficial for the soil,” says Gamnaram ji. But now with chemical fertilisers and tractors coming in, the need for camels in farming activity has reduced and the farmers have been less welcoming.
Attempts to popularise camel milk
Bringing camel milk to the forefront has been one way that organisations like Camel Charisma and Bahula Naturals are creating an alternative source of income for the camel-herding communities and, in the process, ensuring that the camel population does not deplete further. Both organisations have set up supply chains where they buy milk from the herding communities, process it at their facilities in Sadri and Bajju respectively, and create forward market linkages.
Bahula Naturals has tied up with the Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation to make their camel milk available across Rajasthan under the brand Saras, while Camel Charisma bottles the pasteurised/chilled milk and ships it across India. These brands are also tapping into potential markets through tastings at various festivals, including the recently concluded Living Lightly festival in Bengaluru, organised and curated by the Centre for Pastoralism.
In Kutch, Amul and its cooperative Sarhad Dairy, have set up a number of collection centres. Amul buys 5,000 litres of camel milk every day from the pastoral communities (Maldhari, Dhebar Rabari) of the region, benefitting many herding families. As of 2019, the population of camels has also gone up in Gujarat due to this government-mandated intervention.
Overcoming challenges, dispelling notions
However, the picture is not as rosy as it appears. Amul processes the milk using UHT (ultra-high temperature) treatment, which is not recommended for camel milk as it kills the micronutrients. “There’s also no market for camel milk in India, so litres and litres of milk are lying in stock. Amul is not able to sell it,” says Rathore, adding, “it’s not a sustainable model”.
Working with pastoral communities and a non-mainstream product isn’t without its challenges. The initial hurdle was to convince the Raika herders for whom selling camel milk is a taboo. But once they realised that it could end up benefitting them as well as their herd, they now participate in the supply chain in various ways, including creating value-added products. However, the structural obstacles persist.
The initial hurdle was to convince the Raika herders for whom selling camel milk is a taboo.
“The supply chain is designed around bovine milk. Camel milk, however, needs a different kind of set-up since it comes from communities on the move,” says Ojha. “Even the processing- and testing-related standards are set as per buffalo and cow milk,” he adds.
Bahula Naturals has received support from the Bengaluru-based SELCO Foundation to establish a cold chain suitable for camel milk. The market-related challenges around camel milk are tough to circumvent—particularly its association with a foul taste and the price comparison with bovine milk. However, the organisations are optimistic about its potential.
“When I tasted the mildly salty milk for the first time, I could instantly imagine 10 different things that could be done with it,” says Shrivastava. To bring the ideas to fruition, Bahula Naturals brought in Namrata Sundaresan, Chennai-based cheesemaker and founder of Kӓse Cheese, to set up the cheese-making unit and train the people from the community for it. Despite having no history of cheesemaking or even eating cheese, unlike the pastoral communities of the Himalayas, the camel herders have been excited about making and trying products made from the milk they have reared.
“When Gulab ji, the lead cheesemaker at Bahula Naturals, who cooks at weddings and loves to cook paneer, discovered haloumi, he was really excited. Ab main sabko halouni khilaunga [now I will feed everyone halouni (sic)]), he would say,” chuckles Sundaresan. Bahula Naturals makes halloumi, feta, and aged cheshire.
Gulab ji belongs to the Rajput community that came to India from Pakistan as refugees following the Indo-Pakistan War in 1971. While the community has owned camels, camel rearing is not their primary profession. Gulab ji learnt about cheese and cheesemaking at the training provided by Bahula Naturals. “Jab humne pehli baar cheez khaya toh bohot ajeeb laga, socha ki ye bhi log khate hain?” When I ate cheese for the first time it felt odd, do people really eat this? he told me over the phone call.
Once he learnt the craft and started making cheese at Bahula Naturals, Gulab ji travelled to Goa for a cheese-tasting session where a bunch of chefs made different dishes using camel milk cheese—“woh kha ke toh main gad gad hi ho gaya”. I was so happy to eat that, he says, adding that he now consumes camel milk cheese regularly, and cooks and serves those dishes to people visiting Bahula Naturals’ facility for an experience.
“Camel milk cheese is very controlled in its flavour. The ricotta cheese made with it is as cloudy as Delhi’s Daulat ki chaat,” says Sundaresan. I agree with her as I recollect the taste of cream cheese I had at Camel Charisma—its light texture and the fats mildly coating my upper palate.
Being a hub of luxury tourism, Rajasthan’s high-end hotels and restaurants, including the properties belonging to Taj Hotels, regularly get their supply of camel milk and camel milk cheese from Camel Charisma. Jaipur-based café Mufi uses camel milk in its shakes, while artisanal cheese store Nari and Kage in Bengaluru has started stocking camel milk cheese. “When more people taste it, cook with it, and expand their experience, the myths around its barnyard-like or animal-ly taste will be broken,” says food and culture researcher Kumud Dadlani, who is working with Camel Charisma to bridge the gap between camel milk and consumers.
Apart from camel milk cheese—both fresh as well as aged—there are other value-added products too. Bahula Naturals makes camel milk cookies, while Rajasthan-based organisation Aadvik Foods makes chocolates with it. “I see incredible possibilities in its naturally light and slightly salty profile, which makes it a fun ingredient for both sweet and savoury applications,” says Khandelwal. During our cheese-tasting session at Raika Riches, we even tried camel milk cheesecake, realising how well the milk translates to desserts.
Presently, only inquisitive eaters are trying camel milk and products made with it, either via online orders or at tasting sessions hosted in different parts of the country. But taste is a social construct, and once it enters the gourmet landscape—like the kalari and churpee of the Himalayan region—it is likely to fly off the shelves.
As I wrap up this article, Gujarat’s Panchal Dairy, a pastoral milk dairy founded and run by the Maldhari shepherds of Saurashtra, makes its way to Shark Tank India, both impressing and receiving support from the judges. Watching an excerpt of the episode where two unorthodox cheesemakers, dressed in the traditional Kutchi kurta, dhoti, and pagdi, present their artisanal cheese to the judges, I crumble some camel milk feta from Bahula Naturals over my salad. The cheese, with its naturally sour-salty taste, instantly elevates my simple salad of rocket leaves and onions—more than the usual feta I order from the neighbourhood grocery store.
Shirin Mehrotra is an independent writer and researcher who writes about the intersection of food, culture, and communities with a special interest in urban foodscapes and migration. Her work has appeared in Whetstone Magazine, The Juggernaut, Feminist Food Journal, and HT Brunch among other publications.
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