At the end of March, I attended a book tour event for the Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook. Sitting in the cozy, sold-out interior of Binding Agents—Philadelphia’s only bookstore dedicated to cookbooks—I heard founder Sana Javeri Kadri and recipe developer Asha Loupy speak about the five-year journey behind the company’s first literary venture.

Their new cookbook features 85 recipes from the regions where the company sources. During the event, Loupy emphasized that the book highlights the women behind these dishes, noting, “There is a huge canon of recipes that are not written down; this book is just the start.” They even kept the original recipe names instead of simplifying them for broader audiences, a detail also reflected in how the company labels its spices.

Kadri pointed to the gender imbalance in how South Asian cuisine is exported. While women are traditionally the preservers of culinary heritage, it’s often the men who lead the professional industrial kitchens that define South Asian food for the West. This puts them in a distinct position to shape the narrative of a multilayered cuisine.

“The reason that South Asian food more broadly gets reduced to Indian takeout is that men are cherry-picking shelf-stable ingredients that will work well in an industrial kitchen. That becomes the food that in the West is associated with 1.8 billion people that in reality don’t eat like that,” Kadri said. “This book is our version of a highly political take on South Asian cooking that centers women at the heart of it.”

As they wrote the book, Kadri and Loupy noticed the pluralistic reality of South Asia despite a political climate that is trying to homogenize Desi identity. Kadri illustrated this point with a specific image from the cookbook: a Hindu family’s pantry table, with a poster of Jesus peeking out from the background (see below). For this family, a personal resonance with Christianity has reshaped their food rituals; they celebrate Christmas with special roasts.

“There are stories of navigating difference across South Asia,” Kadri explained. “In India, there is such a period of division right now that being able to capture complexity feels valuable.”

Hearing them speak brought me back to the first time I discovered Diaspora Spice Co. while scrolling through Instagram. Their marigold and magenta spice tins caught my eye, but their mission to revolutionize a broken industry led me to place my first order. 

Founded in 2017, the brand’s origin story is that Kadri was working on a photojournalism piece to document the lives of spice farmers in India. She was so moved by the systemic issues she witnessed—the predatory practices of middlemen, lack of price transparency and access to markets, devaluation of farm labor, and the lingering extractive legacies of colonial trade routes—that she pivoted to business. Kadri launched her brand with a single product, Pragati Turmeric from Andhra Pradesh, India.

Since then, the company has grown to source over 30 spices directly from farms across South Asia. This direct-to-farmer model is revolutionary because it cuts out middlemen who typically siphon profits, leaving farmers with meager pay.

When that first box of my Diaspora spices arrived, I felt a buzzing rush to incorporate them into my cooking. Prying open a few tins, I was enchanted by the bright aromas that filled the room. That day, I made cheesy garlic bread with their Pahadi Pink Garlic, sprinkled with their smoky Sirārakhong Hāthei Chilli. For a drink, I brewed a velvety cup of chai with an addition of their jaggery-sweetened Hot Cocoa mix.

As a foodie, but most especially a baker, my pantry is the heart of my kitchen. Friends often tell me my recipes “just don’t taste the same” when they try to recreate them, and I believe that’s because I put great intention into my ingredients. With Diaspora’s spices, I’ve crafted fusion dishes for loved ones and leaned heavily on their excellent digital recipe archive, which is why I’m thrilled to delve into their new cookbook.

Beyond flavor, the company excels at education: They tell you exactly where your spice came from and when it was harvested. This transparency is a massive step up from mainstream grocery stores, where spices are already years old before they reach your kitchen.

If you browse supermarket shelves today, you’ll see a shifting landscape. Where mass-market spice jars once dominated, brands like Spicewalla, Burlap & Barrel, Curio Spice Co., and Diaspora Spice Co. are returning color to the shelves. I buy from the latter three most often, but Diaspora Spice Co. holds a special place in my heart because it is owned by a South Asian woman.

To understand why that representation matters, we have to look at the history. During the colonial period, Europe extracted trillions of dollars from South Asia, significantly dismantling a world-renowned cultural and economic landscape. This extractive model was designed to direct riches upward, rarely back to the people. 

While the people in power changed over time, modern supply chains often remain unethical. At their heart, spices are labor-intensive plants rooted in the rhythms of nature, but global demand creates immense pressure to produce quickly. This leads to certain supply chains becoming rife with forced labor or the ecological toll of “monocropping,” or growing the same plant, which degrades the soil and requires the use of pesticides.

In regions where farmers are desperate to save their harvests, biotech giants like Monsanto (now acquired by Bayer) market modified seeds and pesticides. To afford these supplies, farmers often take out high-interest loans. When the land is inevitably degraded or crops fail, the resulting debt leads to a tragic cycle of ecological distress and suicide. This clip from the documentary “The True Cost” highlights this in the cotton industry, but the same logic applies to the chili seed varieties Bayer sells to spice farmers today.

What I’ve mentioned barely scratches the surface of the complex web, but it’s why Diaspora Spice Co. stands out to me: They are putting humanity back into the spice trade. Witnessing a South Asian woman take on this giant industry in such a colorful, loud, and fearless way is inspiring.

Entrepreneurs like Kadri are democratizing our grocery aisles. I feel so seen each time I visit a grocery store and see ingredients that reflect my identity. It’s as if they are silently saying, “Yes, you belong here too.” As the culture opens, I love that a Desi woman is leading the charge, reclaiming our legacy and connecting us to the hands that grow our food.

At the close of the event, I asked Kadri about the future of this legacy. She hinted at a special project coming to fruition in San Francisco later this year, a store and cafe where people can experience the sensory magic of these spices firsthand. The concept is inspired by Palestinian eatery YELLOW in D.C., and Kadri’s mother, an architect, is designing the space.

I eagerly await what’s to come. In the meantime, I’ll be making my way through the cookbook—I’m looking at you, Turmeric-Banana Snacking Cake. If you haven’t tried Diaspora Spice Co. yet, I encourage you to explore. Supporting our community in this way is more than just a pantry upgrade; it’s a vibrant, flavorful revolution.

Ifrah Akhtar is the associate editor at Central Desi. Her work has been featured in Edible Jersey, Muslim Girl, Cold Tea Collective, and more. She is also the founder of MODEST Magazine, a fashion publication.

April 11 – Stronger than Fear: Know Your Rights Outreach in Paterson
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM EST
Paterson, NJ (location details in link below)
Join AAPI NJ and partners for visits to support immigrant-owned small businesses in Paterson as they brace for escalated ICE activity. Speakers of Bengali, Arabic, or Spanish are especially needed to help us talk with business owners about what they've been experiencing, their legal rights in encounters with ICE, and how they can protect their employees. Show support for these businesses by walking and shopping with us. More details and RSVP can be found here.

April 11 – South Jersey Children’s Book Festival
1 - 4 PM EST
Haddonfield Middle School
5 Lincoln Ave
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
Celebrate the freedom to read! This free event will feature author meet-and-greets, book signings, panel discussions, and more family-friendly activities. Pooja Makhijani will also be in attendance with her latest book! More details can be found here.

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