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Loading page contentCase 03 · Cultural branding · 2025
Tadka Trail
- Role
- Cultural research, brand strategy, illustration, pattern design, packaging, bilingual copy
- Duration
- 2025
- Deliverables
- Illustration · pattern system · packaging · story cards · print craft
- Project type
- Brand identity · Illustration · Packaging
As an international design student from Madhya Pradesh studying abroad, I have personally experienced the emotional void of being away from home cooked food and familiar spices. This project is a way to channel that nostalgia into a meaningful design outcome, one that feels personal yet widely relatable.
The heart of India
Madhya PradeshMadhya Pradesh is often called the heart of India, and is known for its unique blend of tribal, Mughal, Rajput and Maratha food influences. In global markets its food culture remains unexplored.
What the market misses
What is already there
- HelloFresh, Gousto: convenience and personalisation
- MasalaBox, Patak’s, Indian Tiffin Room: culturally styled
- Indian dishes adapted to general palates
- Nothing of the region a dish comes from
What is missing
The gap is not that culture is absent from the shelf. Culturally inspired brands exist, but their cultural work stops at the surface: a palette, a pattern, a name. The large kits sell convenience, and sell it well. Neither carries the thing a person actually misses: where a dish is from, and who cooked it. For a student who already knows what the food should taste like, an adapted recipe with no story is a meal, not a memory.
What role does packaging design play in delivering cultural narrative and emotional value in food branding?
A window to look through
The jharokha- The window
A jharokha is an ornamental projecting window found in Mughal and Rajput architecture. Its purpose is to look out at the world from inside, and for the world to look in. That is exactly what this brand is asking of the people who buy it.
- Tribal lady cooking
Inside the window a tribal woman of Madhya Pradesh is cooking something traditional. She is the centre of the drawing, not the architecture. The food is made by someone, not manufactured.
- Heritage fort
Behind her is a heritage fort of the state. The cooking happens in front of the history rather than beneath it.
- Map of the state
And behind that, the outline of Madhya Pradesh. Three things in one frame: a person, a place, and a state most people abroad could not point to.
Three daals, three regions
The story cardsEach daal in the range is tied to a region of Madhya Pradesh, and each card carries that region’s folk story alongside the recipe. The Hindi is not a translation printed underneath. It is half of the card.
From the farms of Barwani to your bowl.
English
Moong Dal is comforting, hearty, protein-packed, flavorful and super tasty. Make this for a perfect, easy and wholesome vegetarian Indian meal. It is naturally gluten-free and can be made vegan if you use oil for tadka. This yellow mung daal is usually eaten with rice, pickle and papad. This recipe starts by soaking the lentils briefly until you prep up the ingredients like onion, tomatoes and other spices. This step helps the lentils to cook faster and give a better texture to the finished dish.
हिन्दी
मूंग दाल आरामदायक, पौष्टिक, प्रोटीन से भरपूर, स्वादिष्ट और बेहद स्वादिष्ट होती है। इसे एक बेहतरीन, आसान और पौष्टिक भारतीय शाकाहारी भोजन के रूप में बनाएँ। यह पीली मूंग दाल आमतौर पर चावल, अचार और पापड़ के साथ खाई जाती है। इस रेसिपी की शुरुआत दाल को थोड़ी देर भिगोने से होती है जब तक आप प्याज, टमाटर और अन्य मसाले जैसी सामग्री तैयार नहीं कर लेते।
They say the deep red colour gave the thread for Maheshwar’s famous saree borders.
English
Masoor Daal is earthy, warming, and full of nutrition. Women weavers of Maheshwar cherish this dal during winter. It is known to warm the body and support health during cold months or times of recovery. Folk story: as the winter wind would rattle the looms, Maheshwar’s weavers gathered for bowls of masoor daal and warmth. They say the deep red colour gave the thread for Maheshwar’s famous saree borders.
हिन्दी
मसूर दाल मिट्टी जैसी, गर्माहट देने वाली और पोषण से भरपूर होती है। माहेश्वर की बुनकर महिलाएँ सर्दियों में इसे विशेष पसंद करती हैं, क्योंकि यह शरीर को गर्म रखती है। लोककथा: सर्द हवाओं के साथ माहेश्वर के करघों पर जब आवाज़ होती थी, तब बुनकर महिलाएँ मसूर दाल और गर्माहट के लिए इकट्ठा होती थीं। कहते हैं मसूर की गहरी लालिमा माहेश्वर की मशहूर साड़ियों के किनारों का रंग देती है।
In old Bhopal, urad daal was cooked not for the king, but for the guests of God.
English
Urad Daal is bold, rich, and deeply satisfying. Often called the royal daal of Madhya Pradesh, it is especially popular in Bhopal during festivals and community feasts. This hearty dal gets its depth from slow cooking and a grand tadka: desi ghee, black cardamom, onion, and a pinch of asafoetida. They say in old Bhopal, urad daal was cooked not for the king, but for the guests of God. During Eid, Begum Sultan would serve it in silver bowls to wandering fakirs and travellers, believing every guest brought blessings to her court.
हिन्दी
उड़द दाल गाढ़ी, पौष्टिक और स्वादिष्ट होती है। इसे मध्य प्रदेश की शाही दाल कहा जाता है, जो खासकर भोपाल के त्योहारों और सामुदायिक भोजन में बनती है। धीमी आंच पर पकाई गई यह दाल घी, बड़ी इलायची, प्याज और हींग के तड़के से खासी स्वादिष्ट बनती है। लोककथा: कहते हैं पुराने भोपाल में उड़द दाल राजा के लिए नहीं, बल्कि खुदा के मेहमानों के लिए बनाई जाती थी। ईद के दौरान बेगम सुल्तान इसे चांदी की कटोरी में फकीरों और मुसाफ़िरों को परोसती थीं।
On the table
The finished range
It arrives, and it opens
I started this thinking cultural branding meant using cultural imagery. Draw the right motifs, use the right colours, and the work would feel like Madhya Pradesh. Most of the project went into learning that the motifs were the easy part. What actually carries the brand is not the illustration. It is the cards: a particular daal, from a particular region, with a story I had to go and find. They took the longest to make and they look the least designed of anything here. If I had to keep one part and throw away the rest, it would be those.
The studies, the iterations and the parts that did not survive. The case study is the argument; this is the evidence behind it.
See the researchG
At a glance
Scope, not outcome- Folk art forms studied
- 4
- Regions mapped to daals
- 3
- Languages, equal weight
- 2