A second serving of Climate Recipes dives into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, offering wisdom on land and systems across India
Harsha Durugadda and Teja Shilpa advocate for seed travellers—individuals who distribute and exchange indigenous seeds across regions
Susie Tharu’s recipes are not about measured ingredients, carefully timed steps, or consistency standards. They are about turbulence, about unpacking and reimagining. A towering figure in India’s feminist movement and co-editor of the seminal anthology Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the Present, Tharu has spent decades challenging entrenched systems of power.
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So when Tharu speaks to Srinivas Mangipudi and Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi—the editors (design experts) of Climate Recipes—she prescribes the act of disruption as a legitimate way to arrive at the recipe for justice. For her, simmering tensions cannot be left on a slow burn; they need to be stirred and brought to a boil. Tharu’s work is all about the transformative element in cultural and ecological spaces—be it creating a counter-archive of unheard, unsung women writers or building a sisterhood of “Bata chappal women”. Any conversation around preserving recipes or practices is, for her, as much about reclaiming spaces in the dominant narrative. The octogenarian derives immense joy till date in challenging hierarchies and entitlement coming from caste, class and gender.
She is among the 25 contributors to Climate Recipes Part 2, a bilingual visual book project that gathers voices across the Telugu-speaking states to create a rich, itinerant archive of knowledge on food systems, farming practices, and environmental resilience. Edited by Mangipudi, Mopidevi and Deeya Shah, the book weaves together stories, insights, and lived experiences—much like a layered dish that combines tradition with bold contemporary flavours.
In Susie Tharu’s world of Bata chappal-wearing women, seemingly ordinary women join hands to create their own counter-archives
The second edition of Climate Recipes builds on the foundation laid by its first edition, launched in Goa last year. In it, an eclectic mix of Goans—chefs, academics, urban planners, immunologists, architects, and litterateurs—shared their indigenous climate solutions. These “recipes” are not conventional culinary preparations but conversations around native, intelligent ways to counter biodiversity loss and human excess. The insights from these discussions were synthesised into visual recipes—scribbles, doodles, pointers, graphs and key phrases that capture the core messages, work, and future paths of the experts. This new iteration follows the same pictorial logic, presenting contributors on equal footing with no intentional hierarchical order. Premiered as an exhibition at Dhi Contemporary in Hyderabad, it resonates with the spirit of the first edition, which played out at Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts.
As editor-curator-artist (who drew all the recipe flowcharts) Mangipudi notes: “For us, the educational or personal backgrounds of the experts are not critical; what matters is the wealth of perspectives they bring on contentious issues—farming techniques, land rights of the dispossessed, food distribution systems, or extreme weather.” Contributors are introduced with a single line at the beginning, their truths then translated into a visual language without further description.
Climate Recipes 2 redefines the word “native” by bringing together contributors from across the globe—not necessarily living in the two states specified—who offer deeply rooted, “earthy” wisdom that transcends borders while addressing the geopolitics of specific lands. Take French economist Bruno Dorin, for instance. Though based in France, his work spans multiple countries, including India, where his macroeconomic studies—such as the ‘AgroEco2050’ project—focus on Andhra Pradesh’s potential for large-scale agro-ecological practices.
Dorin’s approach challenges conventional paradigms. He advocates for participatory foresight exercises, where all stakeholders “sit around the table to share”, insisting that “the future of farming lies in thinking together, not in silos”. He is a staunch supporter of small-scale, diverse farms over industrial models. He sees these as vital carbon sinks, essential for food security and resilient to climate shocks. His compelling one-liner, “Gardens cannot be robotised”, critiques agricultural industrialisation and emphasises the irreplaceable role of human intuition and connection in farming systems.
Vijay Kumar Thallam’s philosophy is grounded in four pillars of natural systems —practises that rejuvenate soil health, reduce costs and yield safer food
Adding to these global perspectives is Vandana Singh, a physicist and writer at Framingham State University, Massachusetts. Alongside Chirag Dhara, she critiques the electric vehicle (EV) transition, highlighting its hidden costs. While EVs reduce emissions at the vehicle level, their production carries a high environmental price—lithium mining, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. Singh and Dhara pose the incisive question: “If EV is the answer, what is the question?”
They argue that the focus must shift from private EVs to sustainable public transportation systems. The challenge, as they see it, isn’t just replacing fossil fuels but rethinking energy consumption and its impact on planetary boundaries. Their insights broaden the scope of Climate Recipes, linking the project’s discussions on food and farming to the equally pressing issues of energy and ecological justice.
Champions of natural farming abound in Climate Recipes, like Vijay Kumar Thallam, a former IAS officer who asks: “If agriculture is not profitable, then what else?” Thallam has mobilised 1.5 lakh women farmers in Andhra Pradesh, enabling them to reclaim their livelihoods. His philosophy is grounded in the four pillars of natural systems: Beejamrutham (seed treatment), Jeevamrutham (bio-fertiliser), Achhadana (mulching), and Waaphasa (soil aeration)—practices that rejuvenate soil health, reduce costs and yield safer food.
Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi (in blue) and Srinivas Mangipudi, the conceptualisers and editors of Climate Recipes
Thallam’s pioneering use of the pre-monsoon dry sowing method (PMDS), which utilises atmospheric moisture to irrigate fields, has transformed single-crop systems into year-round green cover, even in semi-arid regions. For Thallam, natural farming is not merely a return to tradition but a forward-thinking approach, showing that the answers to modern agricultural and ecological crises often lie in rediscovering the land’s inherent wisdom.
Ramanjaneyulu GV, founder of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, dismantles myths around farming with sharp insights: “Growing rice doesn’t need water; it needs rethinking.” He critiques the environmental costs of flooding paddy fields in Telangana for weed management, which generate greenhouse emissions equivalent to millions of cars running nonstop for a year. His critique extends beyond farmers to urban consumers, who pay premiums for “organic” labels while supporting a system propped up by glossy packaging, celebrity endorsements by Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, and air-conditioned convenience.
Ramanjaneyulu points out that India produces six times the food it needs, yet poor distribution systems and debt cycles trap farmers in monoculture and financial ruin. Referencing Vijay Kumar Thallam’s call to maximise resources, he advocates for diversified crops, farmer cooperatives and direct-to-consumer models. His message is clear: The solution isn’t just on the farm—it’s in how we consume, support farmers, and adopt sustainable practices.
Climate Recipes embraces experts that view the land through unique lenses, blending art, poetry, and activism with sustainability. Harsha Durugadda and Teja Shilpa highlight how seed economies are monopolised, forcing farmers to buy patented seeds while losing access to native varieties. They advocate for “seed travellers”—individuals who distribute and exchange indigenous seeds across regions like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. These travellers act as portable knowledge banks, sharing alternatives and promoting sustainable models that challenge industrialised agriculture. Their work reflects a belief that even the smallest act, like exchanging a seed, can ripple outward to create profound change.
Madhu Reddy, a peri-urban farmer and photographer, dismantles the romanticised view of farming among urbanites. Farming is not a weekend practice, she says, critiquing how city-dwellers treat agriculture as an escape rather than a responsibility. She points out how such fleeting engagements often gentrify farmland, turning it into homestays or ornamental orchards, pushing real farmers further to the margins. For Reddy, farming is about labour, mistakes and learning—and connecting urban consumers with peri-urban farmers could bridge this gap. She reminds us that the privilege of “owning an orchard” or “managing a farm” is a far cry from the hard reality of cultivating the land.
Sikhamani, the poet, invites us to pause and hold a fistful of soil in our hands, using it as a medium for reflection. In his work, soil becomes a metaphor for memory, creation, and life itself. He writes, “Everyone will become soil one day,” urging us to reconnect with the earth, not as an abstraction but as something alive and sacred. His poetry carries an unmistakable tenderness, showing how even the simple act of clasping soil can awaken forgotten connections to nature and community.
Climate Recipes reveals that farming is more than crops—it’s a blend of stories, rituals, and imagination. By amplifying voices of seed travellers, farmers and poets, it shows that climate solutions lie not just in policies, but in how we share, connect and view the land. Weaving art, poetry and activism, the project highlights that answers to climate challenges come from collectively reimagining our relationship with land and one another.
Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre is a culture columnist in search of the sub-text. You can reach her at sumedha.raikar@mid-day.com
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