Taal-er Gur, Bengal’s smoky, caramel-toned summer jaggery, is made from palmyra palm sap by the Shiulis, keepers of a quiet legacy. Rooted in resilience, tradition, and seasonality, it invites us to rediscover sweet diversity beyond winter’s familiar nolen gur.

A simple vegetable cooked with jaggery in Gujarat and dried for buttermilk-fried snacks in Tamil Nadu, is guar phali slipping out of domestic memory? Read why its recipes are less remembered, even as cultivation soars.

It fed the starving, healed the sick, blessed the newborn and the bride. Now, it’s remembered mostly for a banned brew. Read what we are collectively losing by villainising Mahau. 

Every summer, a pyaau was set up outside our home, just a small structure offering cool water to anyone passing by. Years later, I still carry the memory as a reminder of the person I want to be.

India’s maize output has more than tripled in two decades, leading in what many dub “Green Revolution 2.0.” Yet this boom raises concerns for food security, traditional crops, and biodiversity. How did a grain once cherished for its flavour and resilience become a industrial produce, and what can we do to reclaim our culinary heritage?

Between noon and five, when cooking feels impossible and the air stands still, this is often all one can bear to eat: long, thin strips of melon or cucumber, salted or dusted with red chilli. It is a snack of necessity but also a little feast, an abundance drawn from a land presumed to lack.

Just nine crops make up two-thirds of global food production —pushing countless native, nutrient-rich, and climate-resilient crops toward extinction. Industrial farming and market demands are erasing biodiversity from our plates. Can we afford to lose the very foods that could save our future?

Slimy, sour childhood memories — Kaachri wasn’t love at first bite for me, but it grew on me. This wild Rajasthani melon is a true desert gem, inside and out.

What’s crunchy, smoky, lemony, and tastes like childhood? This is a story of snacks that shaped summers, the people who made them, and why they still matter.

One-third of global food is wasted—due to excess in wealthy nations and poor infrastructure in others. Traditional Indian kitchens, rooted in zero-waste practices, offer powerful solutions. Reviving these methods alongside modern innovation can help build a sustainable, waste-free food system.

How age-old cooking techniques — kneading, boiling, drying — connect cultures across continents, showing that while ingredients may differ, the instinct to shape comfort from dough is truly universal.

From chaach-soaked rotis to tangy watermelon rind curry and mango-seed mukhwaas, these recipes are not just delicious — they’re reminders of how respect for food is woven into our culture.

In the scorching Thar, a twisted little bean just made it big. Sangri’s upcoming GI tag marks a victory for tradition, ecology, and its fierce protectors. Read on to know why it matters.

Chaach was once entirely hand-churned, rich with flavour and healing powers. Read how today’s shortcuts hide an almost lost tradition worth rediscovering.

In Rajasthan, where summer temperatures soar to 50°C, communities turn to age-old food traditions—sun-drying, pickling, foraging, and fermenting—to preserve seasonal bounty. These culinary practices offer not just survival, but a deep connection to culture, resilience, and ancestral wisdom.

A community historically found in Gujarat and Maharashtra, the Kolis have their pasts tied to the water. Once fishermen and later agriculturalists, they were known for their connection to rivers, seas, and the fish that fed them.

As I reluctantly took my leave, her frail hands squeezed mine one last time. I walked away with a heart so heavy it felt like it could crush atoms.

With their belongings fastened atop cattle and camels, Raika families journey from their base. But like many other nomadic communities in the Indian subcontinent, the Raikas are facing what can only be called a slow, long-drawn erasure.