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Mahua Has Always Mattered
Exploring the Cultural, Ecological, and Culinary Lives of a Forest Flower
Speakers & Facilitators
Mahua, the flower of the forest, carries with it memory, resilience, and taste. Once central to community life, it is now being reclaimed as a symbol of pride, livelihood, and ecological care.
We begin with a screening of Mahua – Wild Dreams, Wild Harvest, a short documentary by Ganesh Tilgam and Priyanshu Raj (Green Hub Fellows). The film traces how ethical harvesting and community-led initiatives are bringing Mahua back into the heart of culture and economy.
A panel discussion, Reviving Mahua: From Forest to Future, follows. Ecologists, writers, entrepreneurs, chefs, and community members open a many-sided conversation on Mahua’s cultural, ecological, and culinary significance.
The evening closes with a Mahua Tasting, where the flower’s delicate sweetness and earthy depth come alive in both savoury and sweet forms. Crafted in collaboration with chefs and food researchers, this tasting invites you to meet Mahua not just as a plant, but as an experience of flavour, memory, and possibility.
A flower, a flavour, a memory: take Mahua with you in more ways than one.
In collaboration with:
Speakers & Facilitators
Rishabh Lohia
Rishabh Lohia is the founder of Wild Harvest, a social enterprise dedicated to the ethical harvesting, processing, and promotion of food-grade Mahua flowers. He is deeply passionate about community-led conservation and wildlife. He is based in Ranchi and has been looking for sloth bears in Jonha for the past 8 years – he is yet to spot one!
Smritee Raghubalan
Smritee Raghubalan is a hospitality educator and academic author with over two decades of experience spanning nutrition, hospitality operations, and higher education. She has worked as a clinical dietician, organic food consultant, editor, and mentor. Her debut novel, The Call of the Mahua, blends romantic fiction with folklore and foodways into a richly imagined narrative.
Hanna Sarangan
Hanna is a Goa-based chef, business owner, and food consultant. With over a decade working in different parts of the world, her passion lies in creating ingredient-driven menus that celebrate foraged local and seasonal ingredients. For the last year, she’s been working with Wild Harvest to develop mahua-based recipes, and familiarize consumers with creative ways to bring mahua into their kitchens.
Abhijit Dey
Abhijit Dey is a conservationist and PhD researcher at ATREE, Bangalore, studying the relationship between Adivasi communities and Mahua in Eastern India. Through projectmahua.com, he explores Mahua as Kalpavriksh — a Tree of Life — embodying cultural memory, ecological resilience, and everyday sustenance in forest-based livelihoods.
Sharmila Vaidyanathan
Sharmila Vaidyanathan is a freelance writer based in Bangalore, India. She explores food, agriculture, health and environmental conservation through her work, which has appeared in Mongabay India, The Hindu, Scroll, Nature inFocus, Whetstone South Asia and Hakai Magazine, among others. She is a member of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network and a recipient of the Earth Journalism Network’s Biodiversity Grant as well as the Rukhmabai Fellowship.
