Stories - The Locavore

Books on Food

Nothing For The Bin: Lessons from ‘The No-Waste Kitchen Cookbook’

Arina Suchde
October 1, 2025

Arina Suchde’s debut book, ‘The No-Waste Kitchen Cookbook,’ was published in 2023 by Harper Collins. Cover image courtesy of Harper Collins. Cover design by Ramnika Sehrawat. Illustrations by Sayan.

Bruised tomatoes, cauliflower stems, orange peels—what we dismiss, Arina Suchde wants you to begin redeeming. In this excerpt from The No-Waste Kitchen Cookbook, she makes a case for our everyday food scraps as the beginnings of a meal, not its discard.

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Inside My Kitchen

What Does it Mean to Blend Traditional Food Wisdom with Cutting Edge Technology?

Shivani Unakar
September 29, 2025

At first glance, the Scientific Kitchen at TDU appears like a standard industrial kitchen. But a closer look reveals a dizzying array of equipment fit for a variety of research projects. Photo Courtesy of the University of Transdisciplinary Health Sciences (TDU).

Shivani Unakar visits a university kitchen in Bengaluru to understand the complexities of what it means to blend traditional food wisdom with cutting-edge technology.

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Culture

Pickled and Forgotten: Why Meat and Fish Pickles Are Missing From Modern Indian Cookbooks

Sohel Sarkar
September 24, 2025

Everyone pickles, but only some pickle fish and meat, writes Sohel Sarkar.

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From the Fields

Picking and Eating Mahua Flowers in Jharkhand

Yashvi Shah
September 17, 2025

Wild Harvest works with over 50 households, including Fagni Devi’s—who is pictured above—across the Jonha region, around 50 kilometres from Ranchi, Jharkhand, to collect and dry Mahua flowers. All photos by Rishab Lohia.

What happens when an indigenous ingredient earns a largely notorious reputation due to archaic excise policies? How does one reintroduce it to modern diets, while preserving indigenous knowledge? We gather perspectives from four people who pick, eat, and consume Mahua.

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The Locavore Champions

Ganesh Nakhawa on Why He Won’t Be the Last Fisherman of Mumbai

Rhea Dangwal
September 4, 2025

Ganesh Nakhawa is a seventh-generation Koli fisherman, community leader, and one of the protagonists of the award-winning documentary film ‘Against the Tide’. Photo by Ganesh.

Fisherman-activist Ganesh Nakhawa talks to us about navigating tradition and technology, the shrinking coastlines of Mumbai, and what keeps him tied to the sea as a Koli fisherman.

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How Food Producers in the Mountains Navigate Unseasonal Rains

Yashvi Shah
August 26, 2025

From harvesting honey to growing indigenous vegetables, unpredictable rainfall severely impacts the food we eat. In the face of such varying weather patterns, farmers and producers, including The Locavore’s partners, often have to contend with challenges such as landslides, logistical hurdles, and even changes in local diets.

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Inside My Kitchen

“The idea is to not waste a single leaf that comes”

Mukta Patil
August 25, 2025

Ground Up, in Pune, is an experimental kitchen and fermentary that allows Gayatri Desai to experiment with a variety of wild foods and preservation techniques. All photos by Ground Up.

Gayatri Desai, chef and founder at Pune’s experimental kitchen and fermentary Ground Up, talks about the unique flavour of ferns and lemons, using every last part of bamboo, and why fermentation is intrinsic to the way she cooks and thinks.

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Culture

Nine Places To Eat at in Srinagar (According to a Satirist)

Tabish Rafiq Mir
August 20, 2025

Most of the recommendations in this list are for sweet shops and desserts. There is something to be said about enjoying chocolate, cream, and kulfi in a region so routinely affected by violence, says Tabish Rafiq Mir. All photos by the author.

Tabish Rafiq Mir has spent his life eating in Srinagar through political clampdowns and military violence. He recommends some spots that have stood the test of time, against all state-led odds.

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