Virtual Writing Workshop

Rediscover Forgotten Foods

Reclaim Food Stories.

7 Weekend Writing Workshops | 7 Mentors | Starts April 5

What is the Virtual Writing Workshop Series? Document lost recipes, revive food traditions, and trace how biodiversity, caste, memory, and culture intersect in what we eat.

Open to all who love food, stories, and people.

No prior writing experience needed.

Background

The advancements in agricultural technology and the Green Revolution have reshaped farming and diets, replacing diverse cropping patterns with large-scale monocultures of rice and wheat. This shift has standardized food consumption, reducing the variety of grains used in everyday meals. For example, rotis are now predominantly associated with wheat, overshadowing the historical use of millets and other grains. The resulting decline in dietary diversity has contributed to widespread nutritional deficiencies.

By the 1990s, the expansion of industrial food supply chains and processed foods further accelerated the decline of traditional diets. Although certain foods like millets and makhana are experiencing a revival, their resurgence is largely driven by urban elites rather than benefiting the communities that originally relied on them. The loss of local dialects has further erased indigenous food knowledge, including cultivation, storage, and preparation techniques. For marginalized communities, dietary changes are also influenced by a growing stigma surrounding traditional foods, a shift that remains largely unexplored.

Overview

This virtual writing workshop series is tailored for writers, researchers, photographers, and storytellers who wish to document indigenous food traditions, food ecosystems, and cultural entanglements with nature. The workshops will integrate expert knowledge, hands-on exercises, take-home tasks, and editorial mentorship, providing participants with the skills to craft compelling, research-backed narratives for Bihun Collective’s contributor platform.

Each session is aligned with Bihun Collective’s Contributor Guidelines, ensuring participants engage with culturally sensitive, fact-based, and engaging storytelling.

Workshop Plan – Seven Engaging Sessions

Session 1

Forgotten Foods & Lost Knowledge

Theme
Documenting traditional recipes and their lost ecosystem connections.

Key Learning Areas:

Why edible flora and fauna from paddy fields and farmlands are disappearing.
The impact of pesticide use, land-use changes, and seed commercialization on food security.
Research techniques for identifying and documenting forgotten ingredients and recipes.
Ethical guidelines for collecting and sharing community food stories.

Hands-on Activity:

Draft a short food narrative focusing on a forgotten food ingredient, its historic use, ecological role, and cultural value.
Receive feedback from mentors on clarity, research depth, and engagement.

Take-Home Task:

Explore your surroundings and personal history – Identify at least one forgotten food ingredient, traditional practice, or indigenous crop from your region that you want to research further.

Session 2

Nature-Culture Entanglement in Foodways

Theme
Exploring the deep relationship between nature, agriculture, and culinary traditions.

Key Learning Areas:

How seasonal produce and agricultural cycles shape food traditions.
The reciprocal relationship between food practices and biodiversity conservation.
Techniques for writing immersive, culture-rich food stories that highlight rituals, festivals, and indigenous wisdom.

Hands-on Activity:

Write a short profile of a seasonal food tradition, incorporating interviews, folklore, or ritualistic significance.
Peer review and discussion to refine storytelling techniques.

Take-Home Task:

Deepen your research – Gather community stories, personal memories, or scientific data about the food topic you chose in Session 1.

Session 3

Food and Ecosystem Diversity – A Post-Humanist Perspective

Theme
Understanding grains, biodiversity, and food webs beyond human-centric views.

Key Learning Areas:

Interdependence between grains, soil, and biota – food systems as ecosystems.
The importance of indigenous grains in nutrient cycling and regenerative farming.

Hands-on Activity:

Create a micro-essay on how a particular grain interacts with its ecosystem (pollinators, fungi, soil microbes, etc.).
Work with editors to refine structure, language, and storytelling tone.

Take-Home Task:

Create an outline of what form your final story will take (feature article, photo essay, documentary idea, or personal narrative).

Define your structure, key themes, and research gaps that need further exploration.

Session 4

The Political Economy of Food Cultures

Theme
How power, policies, and economics shape food cultures, food sovereignty, and market access for indigenous foods.

Key Learning Areas:

Who controls our food? Understanding corporate influence on food systems.
Food as power: How colonialism, trade policies, and industrial agriculture shaped indigenous food habits.
Resistance and resurgence: The role of small farmers, local food movements, and community-led food economies.
Writing about food justice: How to create compelling narratives that push for policy changes and social impact.

Hands-on Activity:

Pitch a story idea focusing on food sovereignty, heritage grains, or public health policy.
Receive editorial feedback and refine your idea into a publishable story draft.

Take-Home Task:

Write the first full draft of your piece based on your research and outline. This will be submitted for review and feedback as part of Bihun Collective’s editorial process.

Who Should Join?

Why Join?

Learn from Experts – Gain insights from leading voices in food systems, sustainability, and culture.
Develop Your Writing Skills – Participate in hands-on editorial workshops to enhance storytelling.
Contribute to a Larger Movement – Be part of a growing archive of indigenous food knowledge.
Get Published – Selected stories will be featured on the Bihun Collective platform and wider networks!

Mentors

Shruti Tharayil

Founder of Forgotten Greens, Shruti is a self- taught herbalist working to revive India's uncultivated foods. Her workshops explore edible wild flora, lost recipes, and ecosystem knowledge embedded in food traditions.

Sudha Nagavarapu

With grassroots work in food, health, and justice, Sudha brings stories from the field on farming transitions, maternal nutrition, and food sovereignty in rural Uttar Pradesh.

Dr Sunil Santha

A professor at TISS and expert in ecosystem diversity, Prof. Santha connects food systems, biodiversity, and sustainability in his post-humanist approach to grains and cultures.

Soumik Banerjee

Agroecologist and founder of Agro-Eco Wisdom, Soumik reflects on the dance between nature and culture, seeds and soil, rituals and foodways rooted in traditional farming.

Rishabh Khaneja

Founder of Creative Writing Laboratory and an artist from Bir, Rishabh will co-facilitate the series and mentor participants through storytelling, reflection, and editing with empathy and skill.

Eugene Soreng

From the Khadia Tribe in Odisha, Eugene combines research, filmmaking, and food to explore stigma, identity, and Adivasi food diversity. He brings cultural depth and creative insight.

Mohit Parikh

Writer, IIM alum, and award-winning novelist, Mohit teaches how writing and meditation can shape narratives that are personal, reflective, and deeply human.

Apply by April 1 – Limited Spots Available!

The sessions would be on saturdays 11 AM to 1 PM and start from 5th April

Days on which sessions are planned : 5 April, 12 April, 19 April, 26 April, 3May, 17 May, 24 May