The Indian edition of the Night of Ideas will be focusing on the crucial, fundamental, and fascinating world of food in all its dimensions: the pleasure, the politics, people, palates, plurality. And the all-important questions of equity, sustainability, and security.

A few facts to indicate the scale of what’s at stake: India is the second largest food producer in the world. Almost half of India’s 130 billion people, that’s close to 700 million people, are engaged in farming. 67% of which are women. Yet, while they feed the country and keep us safe, they add only 18% to the GDP, and
76% of farmers want to give up farming. Women — the spine of all of this — own only 2% of the land.

So how can these inequities be corrected? Are GM crops the route? Or are organics the answer? How can we, as consumers of food, make the food chain more robust? How can Indian agriculture become India’s greatest success story?

And what of its rich and diverse cuisines. The exhilarating stories, spices, and history of food in India?

A Night of Chefs & Ideas will bring together the kaleidoscopic story of food in India – with French accents.
Chefs. Experts. Policy makers. Historians. Economists. And practitioners. Come together for a night of creative thinking. Exciting. Riveting. Thought-provoking.

SESSION 1: Diversity

6:35 pm – 7.10 pm
Eat, Pray, Love: My discovery of India. Diaries of 2 super chefs

• Radhika Khandelwal : Chef owner, Fig & Maple, Ivy & Bean
• Saransh Goila : Chef-owner, Golia Butter Chicken

SESSION 2: Security

7:10 – 7.50 pm
The State, the Farmer, and the Plate: The holes in our food systems. And how to fix them

• Ajay Jakhar : Farmer, Policy expert
• Mekhala Krishnamurthy : Farm markets expert, Ashoka University, CPR
• Rajeswari Raina : Agriculture policy expert, Shiv Nadar University

SESSION 3: Culture

7:50 pm – 8.15 pm
Indian Roots 1: History, harmony. And the politics of food
Pushpesh Pant : Food historian

DINNER

8.15 – 9.00 pm
French Chef from an Indian Countryside

SESSION 4: Sustainability

9:00 pm – 9.30 pm
Food transformers: Meet the people changing their country’s guts. For good

• Corinne Morel-Darleux : Eco-socialist

Swati Renduchintala : Natural farming strategist

SESSION 5: Conscious Living

9:30 pm – 10.00 pm:
Indian Roots 2: The intelligent art of eating well — for self & society

• Rujuta Diwekar : Nutritionist & fitness expert
• Prachi Pandit : Nutritionist

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