Dipali Khandelwal is the founder of The Kindness Meal, working to preserve food cultures and traditional food knowledge across India through research, documentation, and culinary tourism. Her work sits at the intersection of food systems, cultural heritage, and experience economy.
She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in 2025. As a member of the Global Shapers Jaipur Hub, she works on the Partnerships team for Jaipur Hub and is a core team member of Project GRAMIN, recipient of the 2025 Innovation Prize for grassroots impact.
She writes actively for World Economic Forum on topics around food, culture, travel and tourism, and climate. She is also the BIMSTEC Youth Council India Representative, and is currently focused on a food culture preservation project under the India-France Year of Innovation 2026. She serves as a mentor and jury member for India's Ministry of Youth Affairs Viksit Bharat 2047 initiatives.
Based in Jaipur, her work connects grassroots communities (women artisans, farmers, craftspeople, and rural youth) with global communities for deeper impact.
The first time we visited Gulab ji, a Bhil tribal farmer, at his home in the forest of Jhadol, Rajasthan, he served us tea with sugar. A usual offering when you visit someone in India, bu...
In parts of Rajasthan's Thar Desert in India, a shrub locally known as “lana” (Haloxylon salicornicum) appears only during winter and the slightest rise in temperature burns it away.
Following the COVID pandemic, India’s kitchens turned into laboratories of healing and rediscovery. With heightened anxieties about health and immunity, food became a very pronounced lang...
El invierno pasado, cuando los productos de temporada regresaron a los mercados de Jaipur, India, noté una ausencia inquietante. A pesar de recorrer numerosos puestos, el desi bhutta, el ...
Last winter, as seasonal produce returned to markets in Jaipur, India, I noticed an unsettling absence. Despite visiting countless vendors, desi bhutta, the local Indian corn I grew up ea...
インドの野生のスイカ「マティラ」は、私の祖母にとって夏の相棒でした。淡い緑色の皮に軽々と包丁を入れ、砂漠の暑さにも関わらず、最初の一切れは冷たく、甘いものでした。また、祖母やその世代にとってこのスイカは、単に涼を取るための食べ物ではなく、「無駄を出さない工夫」を教えてくれる存在でもありました。皮をすぐに食べない場合は、カレーにし、また、食料の少ない季節に備えて天日干しにし...
Matira, an Indian wild melon, was my grandmother’s summer companion. She would slice through its pale green skin with ease, the first bite always raw, cool and sweet against the desert he...
