How Telugu Routes is Rethinking Culinary Tourism
A private Ugadi retreat near Hyderabad brings together food, literature, dance and conversation to rediscover the deeper cultural traditions of the Telugu New Year.
For most Telugu households, Ugadi begins with familiar rituals and familiar flavours. The festival table is usually anchored by Ugadi pachadi, perhaps accompanied by pulihora and a handful of traditional dishes. But for Gopi Byluppala, founder of The Culinary Lounge, the story of Telugu food is far richer and far more diverse than the few dishes that appear on festival menus.
“Every year when Ugadi comes, we talk about the same pachadi and pulihora. But Telugu food is much larger than that. It is about how Telugu people celebrate food, the customs around it, the traditions and the connection with land.”
Image by Arrangement
That idea forms the foundation of Telugu Routes, a carefully curated cultural retreat that attempts to bring together food, storytelling, literature and art in a setting that feels closer to a traditional Telugu home than a conventional festival event.
The idea did not emerge overnight. Over the past few years, Gopi and his team travelled extensively across the Telugu states, covering nearly 40,000 kilometres through villages, towns and farming communities.
“We wanted to unlearn and relearn before doing anything,” he explains. “We travelled to almost every district and spoke to farmers, home cooks and local communities. We met nearly 400 farmers during that journey and understood the produce of each region and how food evolved across generations.”
Those travels revealed a culinary landscape that is far more layered than most people realise. According to Gopi, Telugu cuisine can broadly be understood through five distinct regional identities. Uttarandhra, Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, Telangana and Hyderabad each carry their own food traditions shaped by geography, history and community. Yet despite this diversity, Telugu cuisine remains largely invisible on the global culinary map.
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“When people in Europe talk about Indian food, they know butter chicken, naan or paneer butter masala. Very few know anything about Telugu cuisine. Our stories have not been told yet.”
The Ugadi Edition 2026, which will be hosted on March 15, 2026, at a private forest estate near Shankarpalli, attempts to change that narrative through experience rather than presentation. Guests arrive through forest roads to the sounds of traditional music, step into a courtyard performance of the ancient Perini Tandavam, and later gather for a literary conversation with actor and writer Tanikella Bharani on the cultural history of Telugu food.
At the centre of the experience, however, is the meal curated by Sandhya Rani Linga, the culinary force behind The Rasam Room. For Sandhya, the menu reflects the kind of dishes that rarely appear outside home kitchens. The day will begin with a special breakfast from one of the Telugu regions, which will include Uggani, bajjis, etc.
The meal then moves through an expansive vegetarian spread. There are vegetable bondas made with dosa batter instead of besan, a variety of pappus cooked with seasonal vegetables, and traditional dishes such as pulihora and mango rice. Rasam, naturally, takes centre stage.
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“I can make almost forty varieties,” says Sandhya, “For this experience, we are planning a few special ones like mixed papu charu, kokum rasam and a light shorba-style rasam that people can sip like soup.”
For both Gopi and Sandhya, the intention behind Telugu Routes goes far beyond a single event. “This is just the beginning. If even one Telugu sub cuisine gains global recognition in the coming years, the rest will follow. Our goal is to show that Telugu food and culture have stories worth travelling for.”
And perhaps that is the larger promise of the initiative by The Culinary Lounge. Not simply a festival gathering, but the beginning of a journey that invites people to rediscover the many layers of Telugu identity through the language of food.