Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses an interdisciplinary and international collaboration bringing together historians, plant scientists, heritage practitioners and a local farmer to resurrect a heritage rice variety from north India of particular cultural and historical significance to the local cuisine.

Paper long abstract:

Staple to the winter diet of Rampuri Muslims across all social strata in north India is khichdi. A simple dish made of rice, dal and spices, its cultural and historical significance is captured in ongoing social functions and historic Urdu and Persian cookbooks. Since the 1980s, however, the rice variety on which it relied, tilak chandan, has been replaced in the local rice-growing belt by high yield basmati associated with India’s Green Revolution. The disappearance of this local rice variety reflects broader trends in agro-biodiversity in India: a country that had been home to over 100,000 rice varieties has seen the numbers dwindle to a few thousand. What are the tangible losses in terms of flavour, texture and fragrance, as well as nutrition and sustainability? Are there less tangible cultural values, perhaps in terms of heritage foods and rituals, that have been lost too? To answer these questions, this paper discusses an interdisciplinary and international collaboration bringing together historians, plant scientists, heritage practitioners and a local farmer to resurrect tilak chandan.