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Ragbag 2025

Ragbag Feast

This food assemblage by Edible Archives’ Chef Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar welcomes the provocation that food offers to our notions of identity, borders, citizenship, belonging and self. On these tables, Sufi-inspired cuisine questions what food from Delhi looks like; Tamil Sri Lankan challenges us to find the boundaries between these two wor(l)ds; cuisines from Northeast India and tribes of the Western Ghats take centrestage. Together, they cumulatively invite us to consider how we make space and relate to the urban, rural, tribal, ethnic, racial and foreign ‘other’ on our palates. Edible Archives’ collaboration with Ragbag offers a unique opportunity, through Chef Anumitra’s caring curation and culinary creations, to merge rich heritage and contemporary thinking, in order to truly question what Indian food is and can be, today.

Edible Archives

Each of us has a personal "edible archive," made up of all the foods we've ever eaten. Over the past 50 years, many heirloom ingredients, once in harmony with the land, have disappeared from our diets. Edible Archives, an award-winning restaurant in Anjuna, Goa, highlights these disappearing grains, vegetables, and oils to enrich our collective food history and encourage mindfulness about the people and processes behind every meal. Chef Anumitra and her partner, Shalini Krishan, celebrate traditional ingredients from various regions, focusing on flavor. By blending diverse culinary traditions, they craft dishes that nurture the body, honor the environment, and connect with community.

At Edible Archives, we go beyond food. We research, source, and innovate seasonal menus, ensuring our dishes are set in a beautiful, natural environment. We believe food has soul—its own story, shaped by cultural, political, and environmental forces—that transcends mere consumption.

Priya and Padmini
(Sri Lankan-Tamil food)

Priya Bala and Padmini Sivarajah, sisters with roots in Sri Lanka, now live in Bangalore and Chennai, respectively, though their hometown is Madurai. Both are journalists, with Priya writing extensively about food and restaurants. As passionate home chefs, cooking has always been their way of expressing care and affection. Recently, Priya transitioned to professional cooking, particularly at Yo Colombo, a Sri Lankan takeaway and delivery brand in Bangalore.

Together, they aim to introduce guests to the rich and complex flavors of Sri Lankan Tamil cuisine. Through their work, they seek to share the authentic tastes and stories of their heritage, offering a taste of home and tradition. Their culinary journey blends a deep connection to their roots with a modern approach to sharing Sri Lankan food culture.

Samran Huda
(Bangladeshi food)

Samran Huda writes about Bangladeshi culinary practices in both India and Bangladesh, where she currently lives and spent her childhood. She has authored four books in Bengali. Her first, There Is No River Named Titas (2009), reflects on her memories of village life. Atapar Antapure (2012) and Pubali Pinjira explore the cultural and feminine landscape of Bangladesh over the past three decades, highlighting traditional food practices, animal rearing, and craftsmanship. These works also address the impact of rising fundamentalism on the relationship between humans and nature. In 2017, she wrote Swad Sancheyeta, a cultural mapping project focusing on six taste buds along the India-Bangladesh border. She regularly writes on food and culture for publications in Kolkata and Bangladesh, and her works were translated and published by Massachusetts University.

Samran runs Dastarkhan, a cloud kitchen in Bangalore and Howrah, to preserve culinary traditions. Her research-based cooking practice, seen as a contemporary art for sustainability, has gained international recognition through participation in art festivals and symposia.

Zaika-e-Nizamuddin
(Nizamuddin Basti)

Zaika-e-Nizamuddin (ZeN) celebrates the 700-year-old culinary heritage of Nizamuddin, offering authentic flavors that have evolved over generations. Launched in 2012 as part of the Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, ZeN is a women-owned enterprise that preserves local heritage while improving the community’s quality of life through education, health, and livelihoods.

Originally a small Self-Help Group, ZeN has grown into an independent enterprise, empowering women chefs to regain their identities and rise socially. With years of training, these women have become professional chefs and have even been invited as guest chefs at renowned hotels like Hyatt, JW Marriott, and Hilton.

ZeN offers home delivery, live counters, catering, and food events, and in 2022 opened its first retail kiosk at Sunder Nursery, New Delhi, serving popular dishes like kebabs, biryani, and nihari. Every dish is made from scratch using fresh ingredients and heritage recipes, ensuring an unforgettable culinary experience while preserving the rich culture of Nizamuddin.

Yimshen Naro Jamir - North Eastern Cuisine
Chef and Owner, The Melding Pot,Dimapur, Nagaland, India.

In January 2020, Naro moved to Guwahati to teach at a university, only to face the isolation of the COVID pandemic. During this challenging time, she found comfort in cooking and sharing stories online, which became a therapeutic outlet. The more she cooked, the more her memories came alive, shifting her outlook on life. In 2021, Naro returned home to Dimapur and opened her restaurant, The Melding Pot, named to reflect the fusion of various cuisines: recipes from her travels, family, and friends. The restaurant offers a diverse range of street foods from around the world, including Chinese wontons, Vietnamese banh mi, Taiwanese bao, Nepali wai aai sadeko, Korean chicken wings, Malaysian laksa, Indonesian bakso mee, Bombay's vada pav, Darjeeling's aloo dum bhujia, Thai shrimp fried rice, Turkish couscous salad, Polish pierogi, and more. The Melding Pot celebrates global flavors, bringing together an array of dishes that showcase both culinary diversity and personal connection.

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