On the Slow Food Trail of Mumbai

Feeding people isn't just something Indians do—it's who we are. Even after eight trips to India, I still find that the motherland keeps me guessing. Much of this has to do with my transformation from a bratty diaspora-born teenager to a self-taught chef with a farm-based pop-up dinner series in British Columbia's lush Okanagan Valley.

Over the last decade, the farm-to-fork movement has gained traction across India, with chefs, brewers, foragers, and artisans returning home reinvigorated after stints abroad. But this crop of talent isn't confined to the self-imposed hyper-local parameters commonly found at my dinners or in top food-fuelled cities like Montreal, Copenhagen, and Melbourne. Instead, it's about re-writing broken narratives, healing from the scars of colonialism, and showcasing how much is possible in an India without borders. Restaurant sourcing teams scour high and low for the best of India, from Himalayan sea buckthorn and Nagaland chilies to crab from the bay. For me, Mumbai, India's second-largest city in the state of Maharashtra, is at the forefront of that shift. The diverse 600-sq-km (231 sq-mi) hub on India's West Coast is now buzzing with chef collaborations, wild food festivals, and bar takeovers with like-minded industry folks from the Indian subcontinent and beyond.

The problem is knowing where to go in a city with no shortage of options. Fortunately, I have a trusty network of Mumbaikars to direct my every bite. First up: a cheeky pitstop at the Naturals ice cream kiosk at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport before I jump into my Uber. Since its humble beginnings in Juhu in 1984, Naturals has expanded to 165 stores across 15 states, serving year-round staples like mango and tender coconut, seasonal specials (custard apple, called sitaphal, is a must), and festival treats, including a saffron-studded Thandai-inspired flavour for Holi.

That afternoon, I head an hour south to the restaurant Soam, is buzzing with the chatter of multi-generational families and Mumbaikars refuelling with vegetarian comfort eats from Gujarat and beyond. Most of their produce hails from nearby Mahabaleshwar, a small farming town south of Mumbai where co-founder Pinky Chandan-Dixit grew up. But what sets Soam apart is the simplicity of their menu. Rarely do we see homey staples like Khichdi (a rice and lentil porridge) and banana leaf-steamed Paanki (a delicate buttermilk fermented rice batter with cumin, ginger, and turmeric) on restaurant menus out West.

After lunch, it's over to The Cacao Mill by Subko, a dreamy chocolate factory-slash-café tucked away in the unassuming bylanes of the Colaba Causeway in South Mumbai. It's no secret that much of the country's cacao is sold to mass-market chocolate companies like Cadbury and Nestlé. Subko Cacao is not just crafting artisanal chocolate in the region; they're part of a generation reclaiming it. And it's fun to watch. Take, for example, how they cheekily “elevated” the childhood bars they grew up with—in this case, Twix, Snickers, and Reese's—with hyper-traceable ingredients. Like its specialty coffee arm, they trade directly with farm partners and collectives—whether in the misty hills of Karnataka or the lush plantations of Kerala.

That evening, I pull into the parking lot of The Bombay Canteen, a 109-seat destination in Kamala Hills. Under the guidance of executive chef Hussain Shahzad (previously from Eleven Madison Park), the kitchen puts out thoughtful plates that are familiar in taste yet reimagined. One standout small plate was the Podi B**f Tartare (a water buffalo riff with tamarind dressing, smoked egg yolk, and dosa batter crisps). The dish taps into Shahzad's childhood memory of his mother scrambling eggs into the previous night’s “meat curry” and serving it with a fermented rice and lentil dosa. Raw and cured (and gooey egg) preparations are a relatively recent development in India. The Bombay Canteen is at the forefront of this culinary revolution with its Chilled Seabass Sev Puri and Garlic Crab Kulcha topped with a soft-poached egg.

When I first visited Mumbai 22 years ago, I couldn't see the beauty beneath the smog. Now, I can't get enough of it—and there is still so much more to discover.

By Aman Dosanj

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