LFC Reading Circle
Theme: Know Your Desi Ingredients
In August 2026, LFC explored local ingredients, to dwell on questions of regionality, authenticity, and recognition of an ingredient. We read “GI-Tags for Food and Drinks: A Complex Web of Determining Origins and Authenticity in India” by Ranjana Sundaresan, which asks, what gets the GI-tag, how easy is it to get one. Furthermore, what does getting a Geographical Indication (GI) tag mean?
Through the discussion, we spoke about how certain foods become tied to a region, who gets to define authenticity, and what GI tags mean for producers, consumers, and local food cultures.
Read a discussion between members of our LFC Reads WhatsApp group, and The Locavore team members (🌱), below.
Which ingredients in your region have GI Tags?
Shyamoli: In the article, I read about onions from Alibaug that have a GI tag.
Meera: Putharekulu, Bandar laddoo, and Tirupathi laddoo from Andhra Pradesh.
Neeharika: Araku coffee from Andhra Pradesh too.
Nithin: In Kerala, we have Vazhakulam pineapple (Idukki), Pokkali rice (north Paravur), Pottuvellari or snap melon, Marayoor jaggery (Idukki), Alleppey green cardamom, among others.
Neeharika: Telangana has GI tags for textile and handicrafts, more than for food.
Puja: Monsoon Malabar coffee, Coorg coffee, Mysore nuggets are all GI-tagged.
Anasuya: In Bengal, we have Gobindobhog rice, Himsagar mango, Mihidana (a sweet), Joynagar Moa (a laddoo), roshogolla (sweet), and honey from the Sundarbans.
Meena: This is not an ingredient but jasmine flowers from Madurai also have a GI tag.
Geetika: Himachal Pradesh has Kangra tea, Kinnauri apple, white corn, apricot seed oil, mandi sepu vadi, and black cumin.
Meena: Kanchipuram (in Tamil Nadu) silk also has a GI tag.
Anasuya: Joha rice from Assam, Naga chilli from Nagaland, Khasi mandarin from Meghalaya, all have GI tags.
Anasuya: In terms of roshogolla, there was a long and bitter war between Bengal and Odisha.
Manjari: I am from Lucknow and we have only one GI-tagged food—the Malihabadi mango.
What is special about the GI-tagged ingredients you have heard of or tasted? Was there some argument about the tagging around authenticity?
🌱 Priyal: I think that it’s only grown and used in a particular region, for a significant amount of time?
Nithin: I’ll share something about Pokkali rice. It’s a salt-tolerant variety grown in the coastal wetlands of Kerala, using an integrated rotational farming system, which eliminates the need for chemical fertilisers or pesticides. Its length (up to six feet) enables flood survival. It is rich in protein and antioxidants.
The GI tag was granted in 2008, its legal status protecting traditional knowledge and the special agroecology of below-sea-level farming techniques—a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS), as acknowledged by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Anasuya: The Himsagar mango has a distinct taste—many say it’s because of the soil it’s grown in Malda in West Bengal and other places in Bangladesh. And apparently, because of its specific geographic requirements, the mango cannot be grown anywhere else.
🌱 Varisha : Yes, and even then the mango is available only for around a month. But recently sellers have been keeping other local mangoes on Himsagar leaves, and marketing it as Himsagar.
Who should benefit from a GI tag? And who do you think actually benefits?
Nithin: Farmers and producers should benefit from recognition as something that’s unique or original to a region, and lead to better pricing. But sometimes the processors and distributors might get a bigger chunk of the benefit of being able to market this.
Neeharika: Yes, recognition should lead to more market access and money for artisans and farmers—they should be made aware. Who might be benefitting instead could be the manufacturers or marketers.
🌱 Varisha: I feel it enriches the cultural identity of that particular region.
Meera: Putharekulu are super unique and can’t be found anywhere in the world. It’s a unique rice paper-based sweet. The rice, the technique are unique to the region. Farmers or who makes them should benefit but it’s usually the retailers that do.
Anasuya: The local producers should benefit. Still, I believe the middlemen end up benefiting. This had been the case in my personal experience of Baluchari sarees from West Bengal—the artisans upholding this GI-tagged craft live in penury, while the resellers are minting money.
Eleni: I have a question about the system of GI tagging in India, particularly in comparison with the system in Europe. To what extent does GI protection in India actually protect the traditional production practices and knowledge associated with a product, as opposed to primarily protecting its geographical name and reputation?
For example, with something like Darjeeling tea, does the GI protection extend to the traditional methods of cultivation and processing that give the product its distinctive character? Or is the protection primarily against other producers using the name “Darjeeling” for tea produced elsewhere?
Nithin: I suppose they get legal protection from unauthorised usage of the name and few other benefits.
🌱 Varisha: From what I know, I think the cultivation process is also included. If the same quality of tea is made in Darjeeling but not following, for example, the hand-plucking method, it would not get a GI tag.
Lastly, does a GI tag change what you are willing to pay for an ingredient?
🌱 Priyal: Maybe after this conversation, now that I know of the benefits to the producer? But it would also depend on the product, the brand, their processes, producer and consumer relations, and what they stand for.
Nithin: After spending some time to understand the thought and effort that goes into some of the products, yes, but subjective to the product. Then again, I would recommend that one does their own research, talks, asks, tastes, and checks if one feels any difference, and then takes a call.
For instance, I learnt a lot when we visited the Vazhakulam Pineapple Market, to learn more about the GI-tagged Vazhakulam pineapple.
Eleni: I would say yes, as the GI tag makes me trust a product more.
Neeharika: And who files for it?
🌱 Priyal: I think the producers have to file for it themselves, which is where the low numbers in India arise, since there is lack of awareness among producers of the process and benefits of applying for and getting a GI tag.
This is what the article reveals: “The application, made to the Registrar of Geographical Indications in Chennai, needs to come from an association of producers that represents their interests.”
Nithin: Vazhakulam Pineapple received its GI tag in 2009, and the application was jointly filed by Nadukkara Agro Processing Company Ltd., the Kerala Agricultural University, and the Pineapple Farmers Association Vazhakulam.
Neeharika: I think the larger question is, does a GI tag enable higher exports, thereby, capitalising an international market? There is very little awareness of this in India, at least at this stage.
🌱 Priyal: I think in the case of makhana, this has happened. This one was so interesting for me to read: https://thelocavore.in/2026/06/03/what-happens-when-mithilanchals-makhana-attracts-global-demand/
