Projects | Shivani Unakar

Food x People x Place

Mahua Matters (ongoing)

With the Edible Issues collective and Wild Harvest Mahua Matters is a project dedicated to reintroducing and reimagining the Mahua flower. A project lead, I had the chance to help build Mahua Matters as an evolving platform for rethinking food futures and cultural preservation in India. For generations, Mahua has been integral to the food, livelihoods, and traditions of many Adivasi and forest-dwelling communities. Yet, outside these communities, Mahua is often misunderstood,

Millet Beer Project at Great State Aleworks

Turning traditional ingredients into marketable, culturally resonant products The Millet Beer Project is a pioneering initiative by Great State Aleworks, to use local, traditional ingredients like millets, into culturally resonant craft beers. In 2023, (UN International Year of Millet), joined the project to help grow its reach and impact. With growing attention to local sourcing in India’s craft beer sector, the project sought to support small millet farmers while creating p

CREATIVE STRATEGY

The Evolution of India’s Coffee Culture

Coffee has been an area of fascination for some years, and I consider myself lucky to have had this beverage spill into my work in a few...

STORYTELLING

Cuisine Research at Farmous Foods

Farmous Foods, a startup expanding into the FMCG food sector, set out to create ready-to-cook products that combined convenience with the richness of India’s regional cuisines. While the company had long-standing expertise in cosmetics and hygiene, food was a new market vertical —making it essential to build credibility through cultural authenticity and culinary insight. I worked with their brand Bhuna Pisa to explore how regional cuisines could be translated into an FMCG fo

RESEARCH