Doing Good Through Food, Together

The Local Food Club (LFC) is a nation-wide, community-led initiative facilitated by The Locavore. Our attempt is to create meaningful change in our local food systems by nurturing connections, sharing learnings, and enabling collective action. 

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Across cities, towns, neighbourhoods—and online, the Local Food Club runs on quarterly themes, with regular gatherings, curated events, conversations, and community learning spaces. The theme from January to March 2026 focuses on Supporting Your Food Producers, looking beyond the plate and towards the people behind it. 

With this theme, we hope to centre farmers, fishers, foragers, millers, bakers, and processors, and explore everyday ways to support them through our choices, learnings, and advocacy. Along the way, we also aim to support community-led projects and allied organisations rooted in the people, practices, heritage, and ecologies behind our food. 

What ties all this together is action—individual and collective—that’s realistic, participatory, and designed to create lasting impact.

HOW IT WORKS
EXPLORE THE THEME
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LFC member sign ups

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Active LFC groups

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LFC meetups across India so far since April ’25

22 Feb

Next LFC meetup

Supporting Your Food Producers

Theme for Jan – Mar ’26

The Local Food Club Manifesto

A shared commitment to participate in our local food systems with care, curiosity, and intention.

We believe food goes far beyond the mere act of eating. It reflects the land and labour behind it, and shapes culture, livelihoods, and the choices we make every day. 

We are here to understand where our food comes from, who makes it possible, and what it takes for it to reach our plates.

We want to engage with our food systems thoughtfully, with the purpose of making them better and more equitable. 

We gather to eat, listen, and act. Through shared meals, space to learn, and small efforts, we create locally rooted ways to engage with the food systems we are part of—openly and creatively.

We do not need to bring expertise to the table or find all the right answers. We only need attention, care, and a willingness to change and act in sustained, realistic ways.

We cannot singlehandedly fix food systems. But we will participate in them—collectively, and with agency—in ways that lead to meaningful change.

We are a community that comes together with curiosity and respect. There is no place here for hierarchies, or harm.

We grow through local leadership and autonomy. What holds us together are shared values and integrity. If you are here, you are part of this work.

The Local Food Club is an invitation to:
eat with awareness,
listen with empathy,
act with intention,
and do good through food, together.

Stories From The Community

Postcards From the Room

At an intimate LFC meetup in Bengaluru, postcards, ingredients, and handwritten notes become a way of carrying each other’s food stories home.

Paan for the Ages

At LFC Kolkata, Swati places an almost 100-year-old paan ka dabba on the table, attempting to revive a ritual long out of use.

Kanupriya recalls a childhood shaped by a back door, unending pots of food, and the neighbour who became a second mother to her.

My Mother From Next Door

Kanupriya recalls a childhood shaped by a back door, unending pots of food, and the neighbour who became a second mother to her.

Scenes from LFC Mumbai, as Shingo recounts his hunt for the desi ingredients that shaped his potluck dish. Photo by Rhea Dangwal.

Pickled in Translation

From Hiroshima’s miso to Mumbai’s achaar, a Japanese cook at LFC Mumbai traces how food acts as a bridge between countries.

Where do I start?

Members come together to build a thoughtful food-focused reading list, welcoming a new explorer into the genre.

Curated Recipes

Halwa-Nagori

Kcamya Aggarwal shares a recipe for halwa-nagori—an Old Delhi breakfast classic.

Mahua Cookies

This crunchy, caramelised cookie is made with dried Mahua flowers, cardamom, and wholewheat flour.

Dried Beef Kochur Saag

Bringing together tender taro stems and dried beef, this Bengali-inspired preparation celebrates the spirit of making the most of every ingredient.

"I'm eager to meet people who care deeply about food and food systems, build meaningful relationships, and collaborate on projects, big and small, that help document and conserve our local food ecosystems. I'm still new to Goa and would love to get to know it better through local food and alongside fellow Local Food Club members."
Nabilah NooraniLFC Goa
"I see LFC as a space for friendship and conversations around food where there's no gatekeeping, no one to impress, and no burdens of food needing to be perfect. This will be a space where people can come as they are and leave with a lighter heart and fuller bellies."
Harshita LalwaniLFC Pune
"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!"
Oindrilla ChakrabortyLFC Bengaluru
“I see Local Food Clubs growing through shared experiences—bonding over dishes and stories, food walks, cookbook swaps, and movie nights. It’s about building community, one delicious memory at a time.”
Zeeba KaziLFC Mumbai
There's so much we have as a city (Chennai) to share and learn from each other. I see the LFC as a space of belonging, to do better with the convictions we hold around sustainability and community. It is a counter-narrative seed which brings agency back to us to make informed, community-led choices in the face(lessness) of fascist, capitalist systems.
Pritika M.LFC Chennai
I see LFC as a space for friendship and conversations around food where there's no gatekeeping, no one to impress, and no burdens of food needing to be perfect. This will be a space where people can come as they are and leave with a lighter heart and fuller bellies.
Ashish SharmaLFC Kolkata
"I would love for my Local Food Club to become a space where people from all walks of life feel like they truly belong—not just a certain strata of society. A community where those who don’t usually have access to such spaces feel welcome and included."
Ishani BanerjeeLFC New Delhi
"At the Local Food Club, I noticed so many members bringing their regional preparations. This focus on regional cuisine will help in bridging the gap between understanding each other's cultures more deeply."
Sania NaqviLFC Ahmedabad

Find Your LFC Chapter

Discover how the Local Food Club comes alive in every corner of the country—from Bhubaneswar to Kochi, Lucknow to Pune. Browse past gatherings city by city, and see how each place adds its own flavour to the LFC table. Know more here, and stay tuned for details about our upcoming meetups!

The Local Food Club—a new initiative by The Locavore, in association with Rainmatter Foundation—brings people across India together to celebrate regional flavours, share meals, and build community. Sign up here.

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