Oh! The Things We’ve Seen
A monthly roundup bringing together the incredible conversations that play out on our Local Food Club WhatsApp groups.
A Guide to Mansa and Machha in Odisha
Following the monthly theme, “Fish, Meat and More”, members of LFC Bhubaneswar recommend their go-to fish (machha) and meat (mansa) dishes unique to their region.
What’s on your plate today?
In light of this month’s theme, “Fish, Meat and More”, LFC members across the country share their favourite meat dishes—a plate they recently savoured, flavours from their childhood, and go-to local eateries.
When Achar Met Rice
What is that one rice accompaniment you swear by? LFC Mumbai’s members share their favourite chutney, pickle, and podi pairings with rice.
A Slice of Rice/Life
Members reflect on how the type and number of rice varieties they cook with has evolved over time. They reminiscence over the unfamiliar turned familiar, from their childhood to adult kitchens
Monsoon Specials from a Store in Mangalore
Cassia tora or sickle senna—a wild fruit known for its medicinal value. Photo by Archana.
Mahua, Honey, and the Making of Modern India
‘People Who Lived In The Forests: Mahua, Honey and the Making of Modern India’, an essay by Bahaar Jain.
The Badhal and Phalsa Fruit Crises
Badhal or monkey fruit. Photo by Manjari.
Shevla Season
Shevla with its kand (bulb), and green kakad fruits. Photo by Herb.
Bitter-Sweet Reminiscings About a Giant Bitter Lemon
How does the meaning and memory of an ingredient vary across time and place?
A Happy Accident
B(rain)storming recipes for black rice accidentally left out during a downpour.
Has Anyone Cooked Pumpkin Leaves and Stems?
LFC Kochi members share their recipes for pumpkin leaves—including chutneys, crackers, and curries—the possibilities are endless.
Travelling to Kalimpong? Bring Back These Ingredients
How does sharing knowledge about local food shape the way we cook ingredients unfamiliar to us? How does it change the way we travel and engage with a place?
Gud Chana to Beat the Heat
How can one be more mindful of the labour behind one’s food? With the sun beating down through a torrid summer, Mumbai’s Locavores share the food / beverages they offer their delivery service workers to ease up their long hours of work outdoors.
Find a Better Benne Dosa Recipe!
A long-standing traditional recipe for benne dosa from Uttara Kannada shared and preserved through a short WhatsApp exchange.
Fermented Feelings about Fermented Dried Fish
An intimate, eye-opening discussion on food shaming and cultural erasure.
Spotlighting Shani Bazaar
An evening spent at the sprawling Shani Bazaar in Vasant Kunj offers exceptional seasonal produce amid a labyrinth of stalls lit up with neon lights.
The Sisterhood of the Patrapoda
Siblings try their hand at Odia and Santhali dishes, adapting tradition to their own tastes for Makar Sankranti.
A Walk Through Mylapore Market
A post-market haul spotlighting the seasonal abundance found in Chennai’s neighbourhood market.
गोड गोड बोला
Celebrated as the sun’s northward journey begins, Makar Sankranti marks harvest and renewal observed through the sharing of til-gud as a wish for harmony.
Ooey-Gooey-Melty-Cheesy
It takes a village to find the perfect cheese recommendation.
What’s Cooking for Uttarayan?
As kites fill the sky and the days begin to get warmer, members share how Uttarayan is marked through sweets and snacks shaped by region, memory, and mixed traditions.
Many Lives of the Onion Flower
A market find opens up a cross-regional conversation on onion flower stalks and the many ways they’re cooked across home kitchens in India.
Don’t Toss the Pod
A kitchen experiment with pea peels sparks an exchange on how far curiosity can take you with what’s usually thrown away.
The Perfect Kadhi
“My attempts to recreate my Ma’s version have failed terribly.”
Where do I start?
Members come together to build a thoughtful food-focused reading list, welcoming a new explorer into the genre.
Roselle in Season
“I have seen this in the market too. How do we make the jam?”
What are some iconic Bengali food places in Kolkata?
A crowd-sourced mapping of South Kolkata’s food landscape.
The Many Lives of a One-Pot Meal
“When am I going to taste it? Where do I go? Or share a recipe!”
Ponkh or Hurda? One Winter Grain, Many Opinions
“I think it’s easily available in the local sabzi mandi.”
Recipe recommendations for Winged Beans
How does sharing local food knowledge shape the way we cook ingredients unfamiliar to us?
“It’s eaten like Bhel!”
“A really delicious snack that welcomes the winter!”
Guess the Mystery Ingredient?
“Can anyone identify what is the 1st item on right?”
‘Anna He Apoorna Brahma’
“My mum’s visiting and made Mutton Chuka Curry from Shahu Patole’s book Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada.”
“Guess what flower this is?”
“Clue: Turns into a very popular spice!”
Where are South Delhi folks getting their paneer from?
“There were some reports about adulterated paneer floating about, and we had stopped consuming it.”
What’s your cooking style like?
“My mother works like a mad scientist, aggravating me in the kitchen even when she has taught me to be methodical and slow.”
“Just replace the rice with a millet!”
“I’m on a bit of a mission to switch my diet from wheat to millets, but I’m not quite sure how to cook with them”
‘We found my Grandmother’s recipe book from 1989’
“It’s a gold mine and speaks volumes on how recipe-sharing worked in the pre-TV and pre-internet era”
The 14 greens of Choddo Shaak
“The name Choddo Shaak means “14 greens,” and each type of leaf is believed to represent different parts of life and nature”
Do you mean Churpi?
“I know it should be soaked to soften enough to eat or cook. Any idea how?”
‘I found my baking mojo again’
“Since I was an intuitive and irreverent cook, I tried to wing my way around baking and made lots of blunders”
Starfruit Stories Across Cities
“Its chutney tastes out of this world”
Ever tried making Jowar popcorn?
“I’ve never had popped jowar before. Does it taste like popcorn?”
Discovering Singhada Flour
“I was passing by a market in Jabalpur and picked up some. I’m excited to cook with it”
Anyone up for some Kantola Kulfi?
“I mean, if people are putting onions in kheer, why not?”
In Search of the Sharpest Kasundi
“I love kasundi. It is so much better than English mustard”
“I take the leaves whenever I go!”
“I love coriander in any form, but some people find culantro to be slightly sharper in taste as a garnish”
“She would have been so thrilled to see her work appreciated so many years after she wrote the cookbooks”
“I make her dhansakh masala regularly. And have made so many other recipes. A must-have cookbook”
How Do You Master the Hilsa’s Bones?
“I think they debone the Hilsa by cutting first, then using fine tweezers, they pick the bones individually”
Fresh and Foraged: Cooking With Nalli chi Bhaji
“तालाब के किनारे-किनारे ये सब्जी उग आती है।”
No Scraps Left Behind
“First attempt at making stock with scraps. Any tips from pros?”
“Our Club inspired me to make a small comic strip”
Who would win the prize for monsoon snack par excellence? Chai and Bhutta, it would seem.
On the Elaborate Indulgence of Dawoodi Bohra Thals
“As a community, we are known for our love for food. As the saying goes: “Be kharaas, be mithaas, pakku bypass”, which translates to: Alternating two savouries and two sweets is a surefire recipe for a bypass.”
After the Heat Softened, Before the Evening Set In
“It was the time of day when the clatter of kitchens quieted, when families gathered for tea on the balcao, often with pão, a slice of cake, or something savoury just out of the oven.”
Nostalgic for School Lunches and Old Friendships
“Thick, flaky, and full of spice, Koki smelled like comfort wrapped in ghee.”
What to Do with Karonda?
“In Ahmedabad, most pickles are made during summers, but Karvanda pickle is a rare one prepared during the monsoons.”
On Deep-Frying for Shitala Satam
“All the dishes are fried, and high on the spices, for preservation.”
Abandoned Rail Tracks and Knives With a Full Tang
“These are made from steel that comes from abandoned railway tracks from the British era, which is why the quality is solid. This is what I was told in Kutch.”
On Musical Throwbacks and What ‘Delhi Food’ Even Is
“It’s a very sweet, fun throwback, and it’s good to know that some things about Dilli’s food are still the same!”
One Drumstick, Many Ways to Cook it
“A friend from Ooty had once brought me a drumstick clear soup.”
On Railway Cutlets and Nostalgia
“There was something oddly perfect about the railway cutlet—those neon-orange breadcrumbs, the mysterious filling, and a cup of overly sweet chai to wash it down.”
On Chammanthi and Intrepid Mother-in-laws
“My favourite is a fish we call para (Malabar Trevally). Any dried fish will work, but it has to be fried until crisp, so the flat ones are better.”
Overripe Bananas, Underconfident Bakers
“Bakers to the rescue! The middle of the cake isn’t coming out clean. I mean… it’s still batter in the middle… What should I do now?”
On Mothers and Dibba Rottis
“Slowly, Amma stopped making [the dibba rotti], and I started craving it.”
On Fathers and Local Mangoes
“If I close my eyes, I can still hear the weird squelching sounds of the mangoes being squeezed to an inch of their sweet lives.”