When Uttar Pradesh announced its new ‘One District, One Cuisine’ (ODOC) initiative, the idea sounded simple – give local dishes better branding, packaging and market reach, much like the state’s successful ‘One District, One Product’ scheme. But after the Cabinet cleared the plan this week, one detail became the talking point: not a single non-vegetarian dish has made it to the final list of 208 food items.
The ODOC scheme maps signature foods across Uttar Pradesh’s 75 districts. From sweets and snacks to jaggery products and local street food, the list covers a wide variety of flavours. Missing, however, are famous dishes like Lucknow’s Galouti kebabs, Awadhi biryani, Kakori kebabs, Rampur’s seekh kebabs and Bareilly’s popular mutton dishes.
Experts Raise Questions
Food historian Pushpesh Pant questioned the absence of meat dishes from the scheme. Speaking to PTI, he called the all-vegetarian selection a “half-baked” move and said, “I love all dishes. All I am saying is, why engage in selective discrimination?”
UP minister JPS Rathore defended the initiative, saying the government is “merely promoting vegetarian dishes” and is not stopping anyone from eating non-vegetarian food.
Dishes Included In The ‘One District, One Cuisine’ List:
- Agra: petha, dal-moth, gajak, Agra-style paratha
- Firozabad: tikki, kachori
- Mainpuri: soan papdi, roasted potatoes
- Mathura: peda, chhappan bhog, mathri mishri, lassi, khurchan
- Aligarh: dairy products, kachori
- Hathras: khurchan
- Kasganj: dry ginger laddoo, kalakand, matar chaat
- Etah: chicory, ras-poori
- Ayodhya: kachori, tikki, peda, kulhad curd, jalebi
- Sultanpur: red peda, samosa
- Barabanki: chandrakala sweet, red peda
- Amethi: samosa, jaggery kheer, gulgula, large puri
- Ambedkar Nagar: balushahi, chaat, khasta, gram-potato roti
- Azamgarh: tehri, white carrot halwa, laung lata
- Ballia: baati-chokha
- Mau: litti-chokha, gojha snack
- Bareilly: sewaiyan, barfi
- Badaun: khoya sweets, lauj
- Pilibhit: jalebi, rasgulla
- Shahjahanpur: laung barfi, laddoo, samosa
- Basti: thekua, puri-sabzi, rasgulla
- Sant Kabir Nagar: kheer, samosa
- Siddharthnagar: Ram-kachori, butter, rice dishes
- Banda: sohan halwa, balushahi
- Chitrakoot: mawa
- Gonda: dahi bada (Itiyathok), kachori
- Bahraich: chamcham
- Balrampur: coconut barfi, kalakand, local sweets
- Shravasti: imarti
- Gorakhpur: litti-chokha, garlic mini samosas, barfi
- Maharajganj: litti-chokha, khoya sweets, jaggery sweets
- Deoria: malpua, curd-chura, jaggery jalebi
- Kushinagar: banana chips, peda, red khoya
- Jhansi: dal bafla, balushahi
- Jalaun: rasgulla, gujiya
- Lalitpur: milk halwa, bajra roti
- Kanpur Nagar: samosa, laddoo, malai makkhan
- Kanpur Dehat: edible oil products, lassi
- Auraiya: balushahi, jaggery
- Etawah: mustard-based dishes, chutney, buttermilk, kheer mohan
- Farrukhabad: dal moth, roasted potatoes
- Kannauj: gatta sweets, khoya peda
- Lucknow: rewari, chaat, malai makkhan, “mango produce”
- Hardoi: aloo puri, laddoo, imarti
- Lakhimpur Kheri: banana dishes, peda, kheer mohan, rasgulla
- Raebareli: spices
- Sitapur: malai, samosa, pakodi, peda
- Unnao: kala jamun, samosa, kachori, laung puri
- Meerut: rewari, gajak, namakpare
- Ghaziabad: soya chaap, pickles
- Gautam Buddha Nagar: cakes, bakery products
- Hapur: papad
- Bulandshahr: khurchan, peda
- Baghpat: balushahi, ghewar
- Mirzapur: lal peda, balushahi, rasgulla, peda
- Bhadohi (Sant Ravidas Nagar): dal pitha, thekua, khoya peda, gujiya
- Sonbhadra: gulab jamun
- Moradabad: dal dishes
- Rampur: hapsi halwa
- Amroha: mango dishes, pickles
- Sambhal: sewaiyan, gajak, balushahi
- Bijnor: gajak, sesame sweets, barfi
- Prayagraj: sabzi-kachori, imarti, rasgulla
- Fatehpur: bedai puri, rabri
- Kaushambi: jaggery sweets, tilkut, barfi
- Pratapgarh: amla jam
- Varanasi: tiranga barfi, thandai, lassi, kachori, Banarasi paan, laung lata
- Jaunpur: imarti, Jaunpuri radish
- Ghazipur: pickles, matar chaat, rasgulla, jalebi
- Chandauli: black-rice dishes, gulab jamun, lassi
- Saharanpur: honey-based products, chaat
- Muzaffarnagar: jaggery, rewari, peda
- Shamli: rewari, gajak
Officials say the bigger aim of the scheme is to support local businesses, create jobs and help traditional foods from smaller districts reach a larger market. But for many food lovers, the missing kebabs and biryanis have ended up becoming the biggest discussion around the scheme.
