Sanithra Raju: Preserving India’s food heritage, creating social impact

(Aug 5, 2026)  Inspired by India’s rich culinary traditions, entrepreneur Sanithra Raju is preserving forgotten regional cuisines through Tijouri while helping feed millions and strengthen communities through the Atria Foundation.

Many rich food traditions don’t find their way into glossy cookbooks. Instead, they are immortalised in the dog-eared sheets of yellowing notebooks tucked away in kitchen drawers. It is this disappearing culinary heritage that entrepreneur Sanithra Raju returned home to preserve.

A year studying 3D and Spatial Design at Camberwell College of Arts in London broadened her worldview, but also made her reflect on where she truly belonged. “While that experience exposed me to new cultures and perspectives, it also made me reflect more deeply on my own identity and roots. I wanted to bring those learnings back and build something meaningful,” she tells The Global Indian.

When she returned to India, one question stayed with her: how could she build something that celebrated India’s heritage while creating meaningful impact? The answer came in two parts.

One took shape through her business family’s Atria Foundation, where she serves as Chief of Staff to ensure that no one goes hungry. The other found expression in Tijouri, a restaurant in Bengaluru dedicated to safeguarding India’s forgotten regional cuisines. Though seemingly different, both initiatives are rooted in the same belief—that food has the power to nourish not only people, but also memory, identity and community. Sanithra is also the founder of Daak and Dana which is established in 2018. The firm caters to interior and product needs in the residence, retail and commercial interior design spaces.

Finding her calling

Growing up in Bengaluru, Sanithra was surrounded by entrepreneurship, but she wanted to build something that reflected her own passions. Drawn to design, she pursued 3D and Spatial Design at Camberwell College of Arts in London, where she explored how spaces and experiences shape the way people connect with culture.

Living abroad broadened her perspective, but it also deepened her appreciation of India’s extraordinary cultural diversity. She found herself thinking increasingly about home—not only its crafts and traditions, but also the recipes, stories and food memories that rarely make it into history books or restaurant menus.

Rather than following a conventional entrepreneurial path, she returned determined to create ventures that celebrated India’s cultural heritage while delivering tangible social impact. That vision would eventually shape both the Atria Foundation’s community initiatives and Tijouri’s mission to preserve India’s culinary legacy.

Food with a purpose

As Director of the Atria Foundation, she is closely involved in the Foundation’s flagship No One Goes Hungry initiative, launched with a simple yet powerful vision—that no one in Bengaluru should have to sleep hungry.

Since its inception, the programme has served more than 1.5 crore free meals, supported by a network of community food banks, volunteers and local organisations distributing nutritious meals across the city. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation scaled up operations to serve nearly 1.5 lakh meals a day, reaching hundreds of locations across Bengaluru.

Her commitment to food extends beyond the city. Through Project Chittoor, based in her ancestral village, she works towards creating sustainable livelihoods for marginal farmers, recognising that preserving India’s food culture also means supporting the people who cultivate it.

The experiences have reshaped how she defines success.”It’s not just about scale, but also the meaningful change we can bring into people’s lives and creating something of long-term value for communities.”

Inspired by grandmother’s recipes

While London expanded her horizons, it was the memory of her grandmother’s kitchen that ultimately shaped her entrepreneurial journey.

The dishes she grew up eating had never been formally documented, yet they carried generations of family history. The more she reflected on them, the more she realised that every household across India possessed similar culinary treasures waiting to be preserved.

“My brother Kaushik and I wanted to create a platform that celebrated these people and preserved not just their recipes, but also the stories, memories and culture behind them.”

With this vision, the siblings founded Tijouri, a 30-seater fine-dining space dedicated to celebrating India’s regional and micro-regional cuisines through curated pop-ups led by home chefs from across the country.

Nestled inside the Radisson Blu Atria Hotel, the restaurant lives up to its name—a culinary vault where forgotten flavours find new audiences and recipes once confined to family kitchens are given a stage of their own.

“Many dishes from India’s micro-cuisines are known only within a small community or a handful of families. Through Tijouri, we hope to document, preserve and showcase these recipes before they disappear.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Tijouri (@tijouri.blr)

The road less travelled

Travelling across India and working alongside home chefs transformed Sanithra’s understanding of the country’s culinary diversity. Each collaboration reinforced her belief that preserving food is ultimately about preserving identity.

What began as a series of regional pop-ups gradually evolved into an incubation platform for home chefs who had never worked in professional kitchens. Tijouri provides them access to a commercial kitchen, introduces them to diners eager to discover unfamiliar cuisines and gives them the confidence to pursue entrepreneurship.

The team has also created a living archive through its evolving set menu, allowing diners to revisit signature dishes from past pop-ups.

Winning people over, however, was far from easy. “We couldn’t expect people to embrace something new overnight.” Rather than relying solely on conventional marketing, Sanithra chose to let stories lead the experience. “We kept telling the stories behind the dishes, introducing the chefs and creating experiences that built trust and curiosity.”

Building a nourishing future

Looking ahead, Sanithra hopes to build a decentralised network of community-led food banks across Bengaluru so that nutritious meals remain accessible to anyone in need, while strengthening initiatives around skill development and sustainable livelihoods.

“The goal isn’t just to respond to hunger, but to empower people and communities to become more self-reliant.”

Through technology, partnerships and collective action, the Foundation aims to create long-term solutions that ensure food, education and opportunity remain within everyone’s reach.

She also envisions a recipe-preservation app where families can archive recipes alongside the stories that give them meaning, while continuing to curate immersive experiences celebrating India’s regional food cultures and nurturing home chefs who dream of opening kitchens of their own.

“If people think of Tijouri as a place where India’s culinary heritage is preserved, celebrated and passed on to the next generation, we will feel like we have achieved what we set out to do.”

• Follow Sanithra Raju on LinkedIn

ALSO READ: Teja Chekuri: The Indian restaurateur bringing bold Andhra flavours to the world