Food as Heritage, Food as Future: What South Asian Food Traditions Can Teach Us About Building Better Food Systems
As part of South Asian Heritage Month 2026, Women in the Food Industry hosted an inspiring evening at The Conduit Club in London, exploring what South Asian food traditions can teach us about the future of our food systems.
Hosted by Mex Ibrahim co founder of WIFI, alongside food and drink strategist Catherine Archer, the discussion brought together Sohini Banerjee of Smoke & Lime Supper Clubs, Lorna Nanda Gangotra of The Little Indian Kitchen and chef, author and broadcaster Saliha Mahmood Ahmed (Third Culture Kat).
What unfolded was far more than a conversation about food. It was a conversation about identity, heritage, sustainability, community and the stories we tell through what we eat.
The first discussion centred on why preserving recipes matters. The answer wasn’t simply about recording ingredients or cooking methods. Recipes preserve stories. They capture family history, culture, migration and memory.
Saliha spoke movingly about how a single flavour can transport someone back to another place and time. She recalled a woman tasting her tamarind at a Selfridges food event who became emotional because she hadn’t experienced that flavour since leaving for Britain in the 1960s. It wasn’t simply about the food itself; it was about home.
Food also has a remarkable ability to help us talk about difficult subjects. Around a shared table, conversations become easier. Hospitality has always understood that people often connect most naturally over a meal.
Perhaps the strongest message of the evening was that many of today’s biggest food trends are anything but new:
Plant-rich diets, Zero-waste cooking, Eating seasonally, Farm-to-fork thinking.
These ideas are frequently presented as modern innovations, yet the panel reminded us they have been part of South Asian cooking for generations.
Lorna described growing up with seasonal eating as a natural way of life rather than a conscious sustainability choice. Sohini explained how Bengali cooking traditionally wastes very little, using every part of a vegetable, fermenting, pickling and transforming leftovers into entirely new dishes. It wasn’t described as sustainability; It was simply how people cooked.
Several panellists reflected that what many now celebrate as fashionable wellness or environmental movements often emerged from necessity, resourcefulness and generations of lived experience.
Another discussion challenged the way we increasingly justify food through nutrition.
Nobody grows up eating dhal because it is high in protein. They eat it because it is comforting, familiar and delicious. The health benefits are simply part of the package.
The panel encouraged us to move away from reducing traditional dishes to nutritional talking points and instead celebrate them for their flavour, heritage and the joy they bring.
we need to stop treating South Asian food as one single cuisine. The term “curry” has become a catch-all description that overlooks the extraordinary diversity found across regions, communities and cultures.
Punjabi cooking is different from Bengali cooking. Pakistani food shares influences with neighbouring cuisines. Recipes evolve as people move, migrate and adapt.
Rather than flattening these differences into one category, the panel encouraged greater curiosity about the regional stories, traditions and identities behind the food.
The Panel discussed some of the food trends – Matcha, Turmeric lattes, Ayurveda, Zero waste, Plant-based eating, and reminded us that many of the practices currently enjoying their moment in the spotlight have existed across South Asian cultures for centuries.
The discussion explored how traditional knowledge is often overlooked until it is rediscovered, repackaged and marketed as the latest wellness or lifestyle trend.
The message wasn’t that traditions should remain frozen in time. Quite the opposite. Sohini reflected that she cooks Bengali food, but not exactly as her mother or grandmother did. Food evolves, as it always has. The important thing is that, as traditions evolve, we continue to recognise, respect and credit the cultures they come from.
As the founder of Smoke & Lime Supper Clubs, Sohini spoke about the unique way shared food encourages people to open up. Serving dishes designed for sharing changes the atmosphere around a table. Conversation flows more naturally. She ends many of her supper clubs with one simple question: “What would your last meal be?” It sounds like a light-hearted question, yet it often leads to surprisingly personal conversations about family, memory, comfort and identity. Perhaps that’s the real power of food. It feeds far more than our appetite.
The audience were invited to continue the discussion in 3 separate groups
Each group explored three questions:
How do we celebrate cultural food traditions without simply turning them into the next food trend?
If there was one action policymakers, businesses, chefs, educators or consumers should take away from the evening, what would it be?
What personal commitment will you make following tonight’s discussion?
The conversations reflected many of the themes raised by the panel. Ideas ranged from celebrating regional cuisines more accurately and reducing food waste to supporting community kitchens, supper clubs and better food education. Others spoke about improving traceability, helping people understand where their food comes from and celebrating South Asian plant-based cooking simply because it is good food and not because it fits the latest trend.
The final exercise asked everyone to write down one personal commitment inspired by the evening. Many pledged to cook more, learn more about the origins of the food they eat and celebrate their own cultural heritage through the meals they share.
It was such a thought-provoking, insightful and deeply enriching evening that, much like the layered cooking techniques the panel described, revealed new depths with every conversation. What began as a discussion about South Asian food became something much bigger: a celebration of heritage, identity, sustainability and centuries of knowledge that have too often been overlooked or repackaged as something new.
We don’t need to teach South Asian food how to embrace modern food trends. Instead, we need to do a better job of recognising, celebrating and learning from the wisdom that South Asian food traditions have been quietly demonstrating for generations.
If we’re serious about building better food systems, perhaps that’s where the real lessons lie.