WHEN DOES ADAPTATION BECOME ADULTERATION? RETHINKING INDIAN CULINARY HERITAGE IN A CHANGING FOOD CULTURE
We generally see the expiry date written on the back of any packaged food, trust it and buy it, but what happens when even these dates can’t be trusted?
Recently, between August 24 and 29, 2026. A major food safety raid took place in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, by the Food and Drug Administration under Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe. The operation targeted Sadhna Enterprises, where original manufacturing and expiry dates on packaged food products were allegedly erased and replaced with new labels.
According to officials, the operation led to the seizure of goods worth nearly $80,000.
The case raises questions about food safety and consumers’ trust, but on a deeper level it also reflects a larger change in food culture around us. Pure and fresh food has transformed into packaged, branded, commercialised, and redesigned for convenience. But in this modern era, none of this change is bad: recipes travel, ingredients are substituted, and traditional foods acquire new forms, all designed for mass consumption.
But what this case throws light on is the difference between changing food and misrepresenting it.
So here we come to a larger question ~ As India’s food culture changes with modernity, are we witnessing the erosion of culinary heritage, or is it simply another chapter in the long history of transformation?
CHANGING INDIAN FOOD CULTURE
In this era of economic growth, urbanisation, rapid globalisation, and changing lifestyles, what has changed the most is what we eat, how we eat, and how much time we spend preparing that food.
We used to see our grandmothers working in the kitchen for hours, especially during festivals, to make that traditional dish for which we used to wait for months, but now we just get it anytime from the market in a ready-to-cook packet. A traditional dish turned into a packaged food and travelled hundreds of kilometres away from where it originated.
How, with this modernity, India’s hundreds of regional traditional dishes get commercialised? Everyone wants to have a touch of their culture by sitting very far away from their region. This made these traditional foods packaged and transported, and allowed a dish from one part of India to become familiar in another.
Restaurants also use technology to standardise regional dishes so that food such as Karnataka’s millet-based dishes, Malabar seafood, etc. can be served consistently anywhere in the world away from their place of origin.
This is what Modernity does that tradition alone cannot; it makes a local food travel, and, in a sense, not only food travels, but a whole culture attached to that food travels.
FOOD AS CULTURAL HERITAGE RATHER THAN SIMPLY CUISINE
Food is part of our intangible cultural heritage, a way of life passed down through generations. As Harvard anthropologist Theodore Bestor said, “the culinary imagination is the way a culture conceptualises and imagines food.”
In India, the relationship between food and culture becomes more significant because there is no single cuisine; from Kashmir to Kerala, Gujarat to Assam, food changes with climate, history, and community. A traditional dish is not only about taste; it tells us about where people come from, what grows around them, what they celebrate, etc. Hence, food can be understood as a living heritage.
Considering food prepared during festivals, Sadya is connected to Kerala’s festive food culture; Kashmiri wazwan represents a highly developed culinary tradition. The cultural importance of such foods does not lie just in their taste but also in practices, knowledge, and memories surrounding them.
Hence, we say that culinary heritage is not simply about preserving an old recipe but the cultural practice through which that knowledge is passed on.
In the face of this, let’s focus on some of the larger terms such as commercialisation and standardisation. A dish once limited to a particular region can now reach different consumers across the country. It helps connect with the culture and preserve foods that might become less familiar over time. Yet it has some other priorities, like food must be produced quickly, stored for longer, and made at a price that remains affordable; due to this, a regional recipe may be adjusted so that its taste remains consistent.
Another consequence of commercialisation is standardisation; it can make regional food easier to reproduce and distribute. It can also introduce people to cuisines they may never otherwise encounter. But it can reduce the variety that is itself an important part of Indian culinary heritage.
WAS INDIAN CUISINE EVER STATIC?
We are aware of how rich and diverse Indian culinary heritage was, and it is still similar, because it was never static. Food traditions change through migration, trade, cultural exchange, etc. What we consider traditional today is often the result of earlier transformations; communities encountered new foods, adapted recipes and incorporated various ingredients into their own cultural food habits.
A new version of a traditional dish does not necessarily erase the old one. A regional cuisine becoming popular outside its region can increase awareness of that tradition rather than diminish it. A younger generation experimenting with traditional ingredients may actually keep those ingredients relevant.
Various popular foods in our diet came from foreign lands, but they are so popularly used in making various dishes that we didn’t even recognise them as foreign food items.
Therefore, the problem is not change but the kind of change taking place.
A traditional food can change and still remain recognisable. A recipe can be adapted to suit a different region or generation without losing its cultural significance. But there may be a point at which the connection between the food and the tradition becomes so weak that only the name remains.
This is perhaps the most important concern surrounding the changing food culture. Paneer will still be called paneer, regional sweets will continue to be sold, and traditional dishes will continue to appear on restaurant menus.
What we might lose is the knowledge and diversity behind the ingredients, techniques, regional variations and cultural practices that gave these foods their meaning.
ADAPTATION OR ADULTERATION?
There is a difference between adapting and misrepresenting.
Recipes and dietary practices change with time. Traditional dishes adapt with time, a new region, a new culture, local availability of ingredients and, along with that, a new generation plays a very important role in the evolution of a cuisine.
The problem comes when the change is made for other purposes such as reducing cost, making profit, or extending shelf life. While the consumer is told nothing has changed, in reality only the name remains the same rest all changes.
Here the distinction becomes sharp: Adaptation does not erase a tradition; rather, it allows it to survive in a new context, whereas Adulteration alters everything that lies in that tradition while keeping the name intact.
The recent food-safety raids therefore reflect not only incidents of unhygienic practices or adulterated products, but we can also examine a larger transformation of India’s relationship with food.
CONCLUSION
So far we realised that Indian food culture is changing; our kitchens, markets, restaurants, and eating habits have all been transformed by urbanisation, globalisation, technology, and commercialisation. But still, change can’t be considered an enemy of culinary heritage. Today’s changing food culture may simply be another chapter in the long history of Indian culinary evolution.
Hence, the question is not whether Indian cuisine is changing; rather, are our changing habits hampering India’s culinary legacy or helping it evolve?
There is no simple answer, but next time a traditional dish reaches our plate, we should ask one more question before calling it “traditional”.
Are we preserving the food or only its name?
Written By: Shaily Yadav Edited By: Nilanjan Jha
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