The Future of India’s Wild Foods
● Online | 6 August 2025 | 4:00–5:30 pm
At a time when even resilient forest foods are under threat—from erratic weather patterns, extractive agriculture, and cultural erasure—this session of Beyond The Plate offered space to collectively ask: How do we honour the past while securing a future for wild foods?
It placed particular emphasis on learning—encouraging the audience to understand and value foraging traditions. Speakers shared how their work, rooted in practice and proximity, seeks to protect and pass on these systems of knowledge. Whether through education, archiving, farming, or storytelling, the session highlighted a vision for the future that is as grounded as it is hopeful.
Meet Our Panellists
“Just because wild food was easily available in the forest, does not make it Dalit food or tribal food.”
Shailesh Awate highlighted various factors that have shaped OOO Farms’ engagement with wild foods in the Sahyadris, including the importance of an ethically rooted supply chain where only excess produce is sold by tribal communities. While such market linkages allow urban audiences to be part of the dialogue, he emphasised that ultimately “it is their [forest communities’] food, not our food.” Instead of merely preserving wild foods as part of tribal and Dalit culinary heritage, Shailesh emphasised the need to broaden the conversation, question why these foods aren’t part of modern diets any more, and explore pathways to reintroduction that do not risk the commercialisation of forest resources.
Shruti Tharayil, Food Researcher and Wild Food Curator
Explore
Shruti Tharayil is a researcher and curator whose work lies at the intersection of food, ecology, and caste. As the founder of Forgotten Greens, she attempts to revive the fast-disappearing practices of consuming uncultivated greens.
You can read more about her work here.
“We need to leave their [tribal communities] food systems to themselves and must figure out what's growing around us.”
Shruti Tharayil drew from her experiences of establishing Forgotten Greens and organising wild food walks in urban areas to illustrate that education surrounding wild foods does not necessitate venturing into forests or interfering with tribal food systems. She highlighted the importance of understanding the rich diversity of edibles readily available in cities. She further noted that building curiosity surrounding these hyperlocal varieties and their culinary uses can help urban audiences engage with these foods mindfully.
Vanita Thakre, Farmer and Tribal Rights Activist, Waghoba Habitat Foundation, Aarey, Mumbai
Explore
Vanita Tai Thakre brings a lived perspective on wild food foraging, rooted in her deep relationship with the forests in the western belt of Maharashtra. Her knowledge of seasonal harvests, edible wild foods, and traditional techniques reflects how forest foods sustain everyday survival, nutrition, and community life.
You can read more about her work here.
“Our stomach rests on the forest.”
Vanita Tai Thakre spoke about her family and community’s longstanding relationship with the forest, and how this is now at risk as tribal communities are not allowed to access these lands once they are notified as forests. As run-ins with the forest department become more frequent, they are increasingly kept from their source of food and nutrition. She also highlighted the many ways of preserving wild foods throughout the year for food security, and the importance of being familiar with the rhythm of the seasons so as to consume or harvest them at the right time.
Discussion
• Seasonality is critical to engaging with wild foods. Many varieties are foraged within narrow windows—at a specific size, before they leaf, when they are safe to consume. Without full access to forest land, tribal communities cannot sustain these practices, especially as climate patterns continue to shift.
• Creating awareness for wild foods among urban audiences without enabling their exploitation remains a challenge. Education must be paired with insights into the political, social, and ecological landscape to prevent the emergence of harmful consumption patterns.
• Tribal communities are, in many ways, the last bastions safeguarding forests and their wealth. Allowing for any idea of development that refrains from considering their viewpoint, or removes their access to forest lands, is not development, according to Vanita Tai Thakre.
Learnings
• Wild food was previously a part of diets across all castes and classes in India. Today, the most effective and mindful way to engage with them is on a hyperlocal level, by drawing on community knowledge, attending local workshops and seasonal walks, or through open-access resources.
• Conversations around wild foods are complex, and require careful consideration. Promoting these foods without their ecological and cultural contexts could lead to their commodification, disrupting the delicate ecosystems that tribal communities depend on.
• A shift in perspective needs to occur around consuming wild foods, where their exoticisation should be avoided. The consumption of wild foods was once commonplace. We need to build local knowledge around it, instead of dipping into the food basket of far-off communities and forests. For example, Cubbon Park in Bengaluru, one of the biggest green curves in the middle of the city, has plenty of wild foods and medicinal herbs growing, something that people don’t know about.
Read about the Wild Food Festival (2025), here.
Beyond the Plate is an initiative by The Locavore where we engage in meaningful conversations, live events, and dining experiences that look at food beyond the sum of its parts. It is our attempt to narrow the divide between what’s on our plate, where it comes from, how it’s produced, and the deeper stories around it.
Login with Google