Diwali boxes for your Punjab team

What's added at each tier

Prices per box, ex-GST. 5% off 50+ boxes, 10% off 200+. See all tiers.

The hands behind the food

The people and towns that make what's inside, so your team knows where it all comes from.

In the Punjab Special

Amritsari papad-wadi · Amritsar

Rolled thin, dried in the sun

In Amritsar, papad is still rolled out by hand, sheet by sheet, and wadiyan of lentil paste and spices are shaped and laid out to dry, as Foodie Incarnate films in two short documentaries. Then the sun does the rest.

Pinni · Amritsar

Winter strength, bound by hand

Delhi Food Walks' Amritsar episode includes pinni being made: wheat flour roasted slowly in desi ghee with jaggery and dry fruit, then pressed into balls by hand while still warm. It is the sweet that Punjabi families make for winter.

In the Classic Indian box

Kaju katli & besan laddoo (mithai) · Shahdara, Delhi

Cashew paste, a giant kadhai, and a halwai who never stops stirring

At Hiralal Halwai in Shahdara, Delhi, kaju katli is made in huge batches: cashew paste is cooked down in a wide kadhai and worked by hand until it can be rolled thin and cut into diamonds. The same halwai craft, with roasted besan and ghee instead of cashew, gives the besan laddoo in your box.

Almonds (Kashmir) · Newa, Pulwama, Kashmir

The almond harvest still begins with a stick and a tarpaulin

In Newa, Pulwama, almonds are still harvested by hand: families beat the branches with sticks and catch the nuts on tarpaulins spread beneath the trees. Only then do machines strip away the green outer cover, as Kashmir Life's film shows.

Cashews (processing) · Andhra Pradesh / India

Every white cashew passed through a worker's hands

Before a cashew turns white and crunchy it is roasted, shelled and peeled, much of it by hand, and BBC Telugu follows how tonnes of raw nuts are processed every day in Andhra Pradesh. France 24 reports that this work, done largely by women, is often painful, because the shell oil burns the skin.

We buy from makers in these towns in the open market, close to Diwali. We name a specific shop, family or group as a partner only once they've agreed to be featured.