May '25, Jayanagar

Mild weather, wild hearts. LFC Bengaluru swaps homemade dosas and tech rants under sunset skies. Easy laughter, shared plates, and community await!

Photos by Co-host Kamal Merchant and Content Volunteer Shruti Agarwal.

HOST

Oindrilla Chakraborty

CO-HOST

Kamal Merchant

CONTENT VOLUNTEER

Shruti Agarwal

WHERE WE MET

Pure & Sure Organic Cafe, in Jayanagar, Bengaluru, is an eatery and storefront by Phalada, an Indian organic food brand. Phalada’s vision is to promote healthy eating, where organic food is a daily staple that is grown sustainably, free from harmful chemicals and artificial additives. As a food brand, they aim to build a fair and honest supply chain, one that nurtures small farmers and the environment.

What Members Said

I had a conversation with a member where she mentioned how much a community like this meant to her, especially since her friends have all moved out of the city. I left with a full stomach and a fuller heart.

Kamal

Absolutely loved the local delicious fresh food made by people from so many diverse cultures.

Karishma

I was delighted to see Kamal’s hand-drawn illustration of the Gojjavalakki, it truly brought a smile to my face!

Chitra

What We Loved

A beautifully hand-illustrated ingredient list by Co-host Kamal. Gojjavalakki is a popular breakfast dish from Karnataka made with beaten rice or poha.

The Nerale Chitli, which uses one of our favourite seasonal summer fruit: the jamun. How refreshing!

An incredible book that The Locavore’s editor-in-chief Yamini brought to the meetup. Food Journeys: Stories from the Heart is edited by Dolly Kikon and Joel Rodrigues, and presents stories and essays accompanied by recipes from Northeast India.

MEET YOUR HOST

If Oindrilla had to describe her work in three words she would say, “I sell software.” But her bond with food goes beyond what she does for a living. Some people eat to live, she lives to eat—her stomach muscles magically expanding or contracting depending on what’s on her plate.

What does local mean to you?

It could be sapthei (passion fruit) from Aizawl or an egg roll from Calcutta, pesarattu from Hyderabad or aam ras and puri from Bombay, vangi baat from Bangalore or motichoor laddoo from Delhi. There never is one answer, and there never will.

What is your most enduring food memory?

Legend goes that my mum went into labour right after eating an egg roll. Cut to three years later, when she and I are visiting my extended family in Calcutta, and we are out shopping in Garia Haat market, where I am fed my first egg roll. Apparently, for the rest of the trip I kept demanding jhaal ruti (hot roti, but not the kind Indian men demand). To this day, I can sell my kidney for an egg roll that hits the spot.

What is the most adventurous food you've tried and loved?

Recently at the Chef On The Road Jharkhand trip we had the offal of goat wrapped around the bones, served on a warm bed of chicken broth khichdi.

If you were a seasonal ingredient, what would you be?

Kachcha aam chutney. It’s tawk (sour), jhaal (hot), mishti (sweet). A little bit of everything—because life needs the right balance.

How do you see your Local Food Club flourishing?

I was most excited about the pride with which every attendee spoke about their cuisine. With the rising conscientiousness around food and its source, if the Local Food Clubs can continue to be a space that adds to collective knowledge of regional and seasonal produce, it will flourish and how!