The highlight of our visit to New Delhi was the delicious and nutritious lunch we enjoyed at the Navdanya Slow Food Café. Located in the quaint, outdoor artisan bazaar, Dilli Haat, the café offers a shaded, comfortable space along with a health-wise, organic menu. The small eatery emulates the whole Navdanya philosophy. The glass table tops protect beneath them small compartments of seed varieties, creating a pleasing composition of earth tones and textures. Not only do these tables present an aesthetically beautiful design, but they also directly reflect the organization’s values and activism towards seed freedom and seed saving in small farming communities.
The menu provides a variety of traditional Indian dishes made from ingredients that are in season. We each ordered the Thali Special—a tasty dish of brown rice, accompanied by little bowls of different side dishes. One of the bowls contained dal, a staple Indian dish. Traditionally made solely with lentils, the dal at the Slow Food Café was made with amaranth. Another dish was a milky dessert, which normally calls for white rice but instead was replaced with amaranth, as it is currently in season. These were two delicious and nutritious spins on two very traditional staple side dishes.
They also have a selection of different food products grown organically on the Biodiversity Conservation Farm in Dehradun that you can purchase, along with books and studies written by Dr. Vandana Shiva – world-renowned scientist, environmental and human rights activist and founder of Navdanya.
Visiting the Navdanya Slow Food Cafe gave us a great taste of what to expect for our upcoming experience at the Biodiversity Conservation Farm! Looking forward to it!
Athina, Bella & Kiyoye
Seeds and Threads 