In the last few years particularly, using food as a form of storytelling has become something of a gimmick. It started with fresh-faced enthusiasm and earnest intentions, as all things do and was an attempt to recognise and underline the joy and interconnectedness that culinary art has the power to catalyse. But as it moved into the mainstream, it became co-opted by a soulless machine that neither understands nor cares about nuance or authenticity. It became a shallow facsimile of its origins and its roots; mere lip service that simply repackages and sells what’s always existed.
For over 15 years, Chef Thomas Zacharias has pioneered and carried the weight of rooted and authentic culinary storytelling that centres the homegrown communities and cultures that it comes from. There are no gimmicks here — just resilience, awareness, empathy, and a quiet integrity that centers those who’ve been pushed to the periphery. From his tenure as Chef Partner at the Bombay Canteen to his current role as Founder of The Locavore, his life’s work has been a tireless fight to spotlight the interconnected ecosystems that allow us to eat. Whether it’s a Michelin-starred meal at a Mumbai members-only club or a Vada Pav at a roadside tapri, it all draws on multitudes that rarely get their due.
Everything Chef Zac creates implores us to think just a little more about the ‘how’, ‘why’, and ‘who’ aspects of everything we consume. It asks us to question the structures of privilege that elevate some cuisines and cultures over others and to recognise the need for a paradigm shift in the way we see food as a whole. As we talk, it becomes clear that this journey is perhaps less of a ‘fight’ and more of an earnest and unabashed attempt to reframe the joy that is an intrinsic part of food.
Growing up in Kochi, he saw this joy first-hand in his grandmother’s kitchen as he witnessed her work her magic from nothing but local ingredients, some local ingredients and just a little improvisation and ingenuity. “The joy on people’s faces as they ate her food stayed with me,” smiles Chef Zac. “I became fascinated by how food could bring comfort, connection, and even healing.”
After this, there was no looking back for Chef Zac — it was a whirlwind of culinary school and Euro-centric Michelin-starred kitchens that included New York’s legendary Le Bernardin. His pursuit of the culinary arts, however, did have its “blind spots”, from long hours to mental strain to the often unseen and unspoken culture of aggression and competitiveness. Although tough to deal with at the time, these experiences gave him the endurance, humility, and attention to detail that have allowed him to thrive across the homegrown culinary landscape. “Had I known [before], I might’ve hesitated,” says Chef Zac. “But I kept going because I genuinely loved the craft of cooking.”
His first real step towards the path he’s on today was in 2014, when he took time off to travel across India. By experiencing the richness of the food found in Adivasi communities, roadside dhabas, farmers’ kitchens, he was able to broaden the lens through which he perceived and experienced culinary art and move away from the European ‘ideals’ that had been hammered into him during his time abroad. ”I stopped thinking of dishes as isolated creations, and instead, began to see them as stories — of migration, resilience, and identity,” Chef Zac explains.
In 2015, Chef Zac was given the opportunity to bring these stories of tradition and resilience to life as Chef Partner at the Bombay Canteen. It’s a role that cemented his imprint on the rich culinary legacy of the city of Mumbai. With a menu that celebrated local produce and food stories in a way that was both rooted and refreshingly contemporary, Chef Zac and his team changed the way we think about regional cuisine. It showed India and the world the magnetism and versatility of our own culinary heritage and the histories that are fundamentally embedded within it.
When Chef Zac is conceptualising a dish, he always begins with something rooted in tradition, provenance, or memory. He attempts to understand its context — where it comes from, who makes it, when it’s eaten, and what emotions it evokes — and then attempts to source the ingredients and create the most ‘traditional’ by-the-book version of the dish possible. “That grounding process matters,” he reveals. “It’s not about starting with reinvention — it’s about starting with respect and understanding of its context. Once I have that foundation, I begin layering in modern elements — new techniques, textural contrasts, or minimal plating upgrades. But these choices are always intentional. The modern should amplify the traditional, not overpower it. That balance requires restraint and a clear sense of purpose.”
Despite the success of the Bombay Canteen, Chef Zac couldn’t ignore the systemic cracks that persisted despite his good work — from the struggles of small farmers to the loss of biodiversity to the broken links between producers and consumers — all of which contributed to a larger malaise of marginalisation and exploitation. “I realised that my work in a restaurant kitchen, while creatively fulfilling, wasn’t addressing those bigger issues,” says Chef Zac. He found himself asking if what he was doing was truly enough.
He realised it wasn’t, and decided to do more.
In 2021, he stepped away from the Bombay Canteen and founded The Locavore, a platform that aims to catalyse a mindful shift in the way we see and consume local food and ingredients while supporting the delicate ecosystems and communities that are responsible for everything we eat. The Locavore goes beyond food and cuisine and zooms in on the myriad of variables that shape what we consume, from culture to climate to livelihood to community. “Whether it's spotlighting indigenous ingredients, supporting grassroots producers, or helping people reconnect with their food heritage — I’m driven by the belief that food can change systems and lives for the better,” explains Chef Zac. “And I’m inspired daily by those around me: farmers, home cooks, conservationists, activists, forest-dwelling communities, and so on.”
There’s often a misconception that regional or hyper-local cuisine is ‘simple’ or lacks complexity, both in terms of its flavour profiles as well as with regard to it preparation. A notable part of Chef Zac and the Locavore’s artistry has been him swiftly and decisively dispelling these myths. “One of the biggest challenges in reshaping perceptions around regional Indian cuisine is dismantling the idea that ‘local’ means ‘simple’ — or ‘lesser’,” he says, highlighting the role of aspiration.
For decades, sophistication in food was typically equated with Western techniques and luxury dining, while the everyday food cooked by home cooks, farmers, and indigenous communities was seen as rustic or unremarkable. “This bias doesn’t stop at urban centres — it quietly seeps into small towns and villages. On a recent Chef on the Road trip to Gundalipokar in Jharkhand, I spotted broccoli in the local market, while native seasonal vegetables were absent. That for me was a quiet reminder of how aspiration can overwrite tradition, one vegetable at a time.”
At The Locavore, Chef Zac and his team have strived to tell stories that honour food in its full context, which includes the people it comes from, its landscape, and the knowledge systems behind all of it. Instead of treating regional dishes as folkloric novelties, they document them with the same care and attention typically reserved for fine dining.
One instance of this was in Joida, Karnataka, where they studied the tuber biodiversity sustained by the region's forest-dwelling communities. What stood out the most to them was their finely tuned expertise on precisely when to forage the tubers and how to prepare them for a variety of culinary and medicinal purposes. Chef Zac underlines that these aren’t just mere ingredients but “ecological inheritance passed down through generations.”
The Locavore also documents and publishes these inheritances from across the country, with a focus on voices and communities that rarely make it into mainstream cookbooks or restaurant menus. While many of these dishes seem ‘rudimentary’ at first glance, they possess an incomparable depth.
“One that completely shifted my own assumptions was Chhatu Patra Poda from Odisha,” explains Chef Zac. “Wild mushrooms are marinated in a paste of local spices, wrapped in sal leaves, and slow-cooked in dying embers. On paper, it sounds elemental. But watching it being made revealed the intricacy behind each choice — the variety of leaf used for its aroma and durability, the precision in the marinade, and the patient, practiced fire-cooking. It was a masterclass in quiet sophistication. And it reminded me that true complexity doesn’t always present itself loudly — it reveals itself when you take the time to look closely.”
The Indian region that has left the deepest impact on Chef Zac is Meghalaya. During his time in Khweng with the Khasi community and in Tura with the Garo experienced firsthand how food is deeply intertwined with their systems of land and memory. For them, seemingly commonplace ingredients like black sesame, fermented bamboo shoot, smoked pork, roselle leaves, tree tomato, and wild mushrooms aren’t just flavourful — they carry stories that trace the very existence of these communities.
“What moved me most was the quiet integrity behind it all,” says Chef Zac. “Fermentation wasn’t a trend — it was a way of life. Foraging wasn’t an occasional practice — it was embedded in everyday survival and stewardship. I saw how many indigenous communities here live in close harmony with their ecosystems, nourishing them rather than depleting them. It’s a relationship of reciprocity, not extraction.”
For Chef Zac, his time in Meghalaya fundamentally changed the way he thought about food. He stopped seeing it as a solely creative act and began to appreciate it as something that’s inherited — to be respected, learned from, and protected.
The Locavore’s latest initiative is the ‘Local Food Club (LFC)’, supported by the Rainmatter Foundation, is the culmination of nearly two decades of “learning, dreaming, and doing” for Chef Zac. Led by a community of passionate food lovers from across the country, the Local Food Club aims to bring people together for celebrations of regional flavours, intimate meals, and larger community building centered on the food that nourishes us. You can either join a Local Food Club near you or start one yourself. By gathering once a month, each LFC is a space to make friends, tell stories, highlight regional culinary diversity and work towards a more sustainable future for everyone.
In just a few months, the LFC has grown to over 2,200 members across 50 cities, including smaller locales like Bhopal, Kochi, and Panjim. What excites Chef Zac the most is how organically it’s spreading. It’s volunteer-led, free to join, and intentionally informal. They’re not trying to build a brand or franchise. Instead, they’re nurturing a living, breathing network of people who care.
“What moves me most, though, are the small, quiet moments,” beams Chef Zac. “A 70-year-old home cook swapping heirloom recipes at a potluck in Goa with a young experimental chef fermenting jackfruit seeds. Strangers bonding over shared food memories. People gently challenging caste and class divides simply by sitting at the same table and listening to one another. These aren’t incidental — they’re transformative.”
Chef Zac also loves the fact that he’s often able to show up as a participant. “I bring a dish, sit in a circle, and listen. The spotlight shifts away from me and lands, rightly, on the stories, conversations, and connections being made. This was never meant to be about one chef or one organisation — it’s about all of us, building a better food future together. Watching that take root has been very rewarding.”
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