Culinary, culture, circularity — food & sustainability

What is the oldest story which connects humans beyond borders? Which transpires from thought to taste, spreads tradition, culture, legacy and a future? This story is the one that is the most sacred and the most inspiring, this is the story of food.

Nothing gives a prelude to a person than their taste. Their interest in food, their likes, their discipline, their palette says it all. What is iconic is that this story of food is also extremely sustainable - from both a planet as well as a people perspective, when we look at it from the aspect of the Triple Bottom Line.

Food for man originated as a survival instinct to become a culinary passion, and this has only been possible because of the preservation of recipes, technique and a heart full of cooking love. Whether you’re a vegan, vegetarian, eggetarian or a non-vegeterian, food and your food chain started from a need for survival, striking balance with emotion and experimentation.

The rarest pasta recipe of the world is known to only three women who belong to the same Italian family, and nothing speaks more volumes than this about culture, heritage and the importance of food. In our 28 Indian states where we are vastly diverse and still united, the story of food travels faster than others.

The first time I had pure ragi rotis was in Nainital and the first time I understood what Gosht it was in Kashmir. Though I am a Maharshtrian, my father’s roots come from Saurashtra, Gujarat, and with its geographical proximity to Rajasthan, every Holi, and yesterday, we eat Dal Baati at home - that is how united food can make us, without us even realising.

If you ever read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, our genetic lines, ancestors, habits and reasoning is perfectly given. Globally, our genes are more similar than we realise and from a historical perspective I had explored this in one of my articles, here. But from a culinary perspective, things can also get surprising. One of my most devoured Maharshtrian desserts is called ‘Kharvas’, made from the colostrum, part of the first of a cow when she gives birth - but would you believe that there is this exact same dessert in Sweden, known as Kaldvans. 

This is unique but definitely not a one-off. Across cultures and continents, food reflects both humanity and shared necessities, leading to strikingly similar dishes despite linguistic and geographical divides. Dumplings, from Chinese jiaozi to Italian ravioli and Polish pierogi, showcase a universal love for stuffed dough. Flatbreads, like Indian paratha, Mexican quesadilla, and Turkish gözleme, highlight how diverse grains and fillings create regional staples. Grilled meat skewers, whether Middle Eastern shish kebabs, Japanese yakitori, or Indonesian satay, illustrate a timeless method of cooking over fire. Rice and beans, a fundamental pairing in Latin American gallo pinto, Indian rajma chawal, and West African jollof rice, provide essential nutrition across different agricultural landscapes. Similarly, savory pies and pastries, from English meat pies to Indian samosas and Argentinian empanadas, offer a portable, filling meal solution. Noodle soups like Japanese ramen, Vietnamese pho, and Italian pastina in brodo show how simple ingredients create comforting, broth-based dishes worldwide. Even pancakes have cross-cultural versions, from French crêpes and Russian blini to Ethiopian injera and Indian dosa. 

These global parallels arise from shared environmental conditions, agricultural practices, and the universal need for nourishing, practical meals. Trade, migration, and colonization further shaped food evolution, blending local traditions with foreign influences. Despite cultural differences, our fundamental ways of cooking and eating connect us, proving that food is a universal language that transcends borders.

The world is circular when it comes to food, and so can be our kitchens. 

Absolutely tired of ordering in, I started cooking my own food in 2022, and from then to now, I have seen my kitchen be more sustainable than ever-before. From making tofu from lentils to adding beetroot and spinach to my roti-dough, these practices seem regular but with the effort of not letting anything go to waste, we experiment. 

Tea as we know it today was an accidental experiment and so was icecream, and as I have been writing almost an essay on food, it is a basic story to reflect upon what we eat, how we eat and where our food comes from. This was more of a creative amalgamation of ‘how do we eat and what do we eat’ - and in the future articles I will explore this dimension of food and sustainability at a deeper level and from a cultural and human level as well - but today, this is different. 

While  a few days ago, I was experimenting with sweet potato parathas, as my mom Dr. Prachi Mahajan said ‘how cooking has the power to fuel creativity’, I realised this.

I am not the best cook there is, but I experiment. Indian kitchens are deeply rooted in sustainable tradition beautifully handheld - perhaps, the integration of culinary skills and sustainability stretches across the globe. It is often said that man lives to survive. In today’s day and age, where almost everything is adulterated yet instagrammable and also delivered in minutes, how to really value something, something as nurturing as food. It is not a foodie to love food, it is nothing but human.

Food is a story to be told, the creation of food or cooking is storytelling. Our binge watching of MasterChef and chef’s table tries to describe art, but as I explore the agricultural landscape and the concept of farm-to-table, the picture we have been shown is too convenient to be true. The more we think, see and observe, the sooner we realise that sustainability is human - it starts from our homes, our kitchens, our leftover ingredients, effort to go to the market and handpick the vegetables we want to eat, to knead the dough, to sauté the onion, to smell and to breathe a roast-y aroma.

To cook is to tell a story, here’s a reminder to thank your personal storytellers (even yourself), to savour leftover ingredients sustainably indeed and that all that is human is almost always good - and home made food is always magic and sustainable, because the effort is worth it. Everything is sustainable, food should be too. Food is culture, food is nutrition, food is survival, food is storytelling, food is history. Our kitchens form the heart of sustainability, and it all indeed begins from home. 

illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.