November ’25 Mahalaxmi

At LFC Mumbai, bring your dreams or dabbas, and in a city that never stops, take a pause. Meet Mumbai’s mosaic of dreamers and doers—all at one table.

Photos by Host, Maria.

HOST

Maria Mirza

CO-HOST

Rahul Garg

WHERE WE MET

Freedom Tree is an experiential centre and design store, where handcrafted furniture, textiles, and décor are artfully arranged to create a warm, homelike atmosphere.

What Members Said

Thank you Maria for such a wonderful evening. The company was great, with diverse talents and experiences, ranging from the early twenties to early seventies. I loved the venue and the beautiful table. The interactive games were so well thought out, and the creativity with the ingredients was ingenious. Hoping to participate in many more.

Anshu

Maria, you were absolutely stunning last evening. The food on the table was delicious.

Kala

What We Loved

Leftover idlis cut into cubes and tossed with mixed vegetables, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and mild spices. A quick stir-fry that gives idlis a fresh, savoury second life.

Leftover Rice Crackers, made by LFC member Shingo, using leftover sticky rice mixed with soy sauce and spices, then pan-fried till crisp.

Dal-Roti with Chilli Oil—rotis kneaded with leftover dal, then cooked till soft and finished with a drizzle of chilli oil.

MEET YOUR HOST

Maria Mirza is a multidisciplinary artist who's half faery, half wytch; entirely stardust. She is often lost in various media, running down rabbit holes and nurturing wonder, curiosity, and joy. For her, food is a connection with the more than human world. She is currently working on a multimedia zine where she is using her family recipes as a thread to weave together an exploration of disability, neurodivergent childhoods, queerness, and familial histories.

What does Local mean to you

‘Local’ refers to the grounded and rooted, but also to the fluid and contextual. It’s people first and land first. It’s about community, and an awareness of what’s unseen. It encourages an animism-led worldview, and mindfulness about where the food that nourishes us comes from.

What is your most enduring food memory?

I invited a group of friends to stay at my ancestral house in our native town and had a Kapadvanji Bohri food intensive that I curated for them for a week. It was all about slow cooking in a slow life.

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

Fungi stew from a single mushroom, which fed over 30 people, and mixed mushroom rasam, both prepared using fungi we foraged by hand during a mushroom festival in Wayanad.

5. What comfort do you reach for when you are unwell?

I alternate between bone broth with bone marrow, crab pepper soup, chicken wings, neck and feet soup, and wagharela khichdi.

How do you see your Local Food Club flourishing?

The Local Food Club has been one of the few communities in the city that has brought back faith in being able to do good through food, not as a tagline but as praxis. I look forward to experiencing more of what comes out of this practice of sitting together, thinking together, dreaming together, cooking together, and eating together with empathy, curiosity, and care.