Nitin is a global citizen dedicated to contributing more to life than taking from it. As an entrepreneur and consultant, he focuses on innovating sustainable ways for humans to live in harmony with the earth. With a background in engineering from a leading Industrial Engineering school and early experience in Silicon Valley’s high-tech sector, Nitin has spent over 15 years in product development and integrated marketing. His work centers on conscious consumption, blending ancient Indian wisdom with global best practices to promote well-being for both people and the planet.
At Nutrition Connect, as part of our campaign " Nutrition On My Plate, we spoke with experts to highlight the power of partnerships in making nutritious, sustainable food choices, mainstream. In this article, we highlight the efforts of entrepreneur Nitin Dixit, founder of Eleved Essentials, India's first heirloom grocery store. His journey, from the technological hubs of Silicon Valley back to India's Ayurvedic roots, illustrates how rediscovering heirloom foods can support nutrition, address chronic health issues, promote sustainable agriculture, and strengthen cultural connections.
This article underscores the distinctive significance of heirloom foods in India in terms of their rich nutritional content and cultural lineage, over conventional and organic agriculture, that advocates for better consumer awareness, policy support, and inter-sectoral partnerships to mainstream heirloom products in the daily life of how what we buy, and what we eat.
Reviving Heirloom Foods for a Healthier Future
In today’s fast-paced world, food has become more about convenience than nourishment. People are eating more processed foods, leading to rising health issues and a disconnect from traditional, wholesome ingredients. But what if we could change that? There's hope in returning to our roots—quite literally.
The Nutrition On My Plate campaign by Nutrition Connect aims to revive awareness about nutritious, sustainable, plant-based heirloom foods—varieties passed down through generations that offer remarkable nutritional, cultural, and environmental benefits. Leading this movement in India is Eleved Essentials, the country’s first heirloom grocery store, founded by visionary entrepreneur Nitin Dixit. Having lived across six continents and experienced Silicon Valley’s tech-driven lifestyle, Dixit observed a troubling global paradox: despite rapid technological progress, diets had deteriorated, the environment was suffering, and people were moving away from real, natural foods leading to a rise in chronic health issues such as cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, and diabetes.
“With diseases on the rise everywhere, people are now realizing that health isn’t just about medicine—it starts with what we put on our plates. The food we eat should be clean, natural, and free from genetic modifications,” Dixit explains.
This realization led him back to Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old scientific tradition that views food as the foundation of health. Inspired by this timeless knowledge, in November 2023, he launched Eleved—not just as a business, but as a mission to revive India’s heirloom foods, reconnecting communities to traditional, nutritious, and sustainable eating practices.
Beyond Organic: The Heirloom Advantage
As more people seek healthier food options, the global healthy foods market is projected to reach
USD 897.0 billion by 2025 and USD 2,264.1 billion by 2035. While organic and natural foods have grown in popularity, heirloom foods offer something even more special: they preserve not just soil quality, but also the purity of seeds.
Dixit explains: “Most foods today are either labeled ‘natural’—a vague term—or ‘organic,’ which focuses on eliminating chemicals in farming. But heirloom foods take it further. They maintain the original seed’s genetic integrity, meaning they’ve remained unchanged for generations.”
Unlike hybrid crops, heirloom foods:
- Have higher nutrient density, providing more vitamins and minerals.
- Are easier to digest, making their nutrients more bioavailable.
- Grow naturally, requiring fewer artificial interventions like chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
By preserving these native, unmodified seeds, Eleved Essentials ensures that people today can enjoy food as it was meant to be—nutrient-rich, sustainable, and true to tradition.
Sustainability Starts with Seeds
Heirloom crops naturally support sustainability. Unlike modern hybrid crops that require genetic modification, chemical inputs, and excessive irrigation, heirloom varieties adapt to their environment and thrive without artificial interference.
Eleved Essentials partners directly with farmers and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), ensuring fair wages, transparency, and ethical farming practices. “We go straight to the source, carefully vet our farmers, and ensure they’re practicing what they preach,” says Dixit.
By choosing heirloom foods, Eleved Essentials is not just selling groceries—it is preserving
India’s food heritage and ensuring long-term food security.
An illustration of spices journeying from all corners of the world to India — a story of flavor and tradition.
Nutritional Powerhouses: Rediscovering Heirloom Superfoods
Scarlet Bean Rajma is one of the many heirloom foods that Eleved Essentials promotes, it is from Spiti Valley, a remote district in Himachal Pradesh, a state in the foothills of Himalayas in Northern India.
“This variety of Scarlet Bean Rajma is striking—not just in its vibrant color, but in its size. It takes nearly 18 months to grow to its full potential,” Dixit shares. “It’s a rare, nutrient-rich crop cultivated in some of the most remote parts of the country.”
Additionally, another such heirloom variety is Karnataka Red Rajamudi Rice originating from Karnataka, a state in southern India. “Once reserved for the Wadiyars, the royal family of Mysore (erstwhile Karnataka), this rice carries a legacy of health and tradition,” Dixit adds. “It is unpolished, nutrient-dense, and cultivated using age-old methods that preserve its natural goodness.”
Heirloom crops like the Scarlet Bean Rajma and Karnataka Red Rajamudi Rice, amongst numerous others, are nutritional treasures. They are:
- Rich in protein and fiber, supporting muscle growth and digestion.
- Packed with antioxidants and essential nutrients, aiding immunity and disease prevention.
- Preserved using traditional farming methods, ensuring superior taste and texture compared to mass-produced hybrid crops.
Scaling Heirloom Foods: The Need for Policy Support
Despite their numerous benefits, heirloom foods are still underrepresented when compared to organic or hybrid crops. This is where policy intervention becomes crucial.
“To truly bring heirloom foods back, we need strong public policy support,” says Dixit. “Organic foods have received attention, but heirloom varieties are still overlooked. We need policies that encourage farmers to preserve these original varieties, incentives for food startups, and broader awareness about heirloom products.”
The Future of Food: A Return to Tradition
With 56.4% of India’s disease burden linked to poor diets, it’s time for a major shift in the way we eat. The Nutrition On My Plate campaign, in partnership with Eleved Essentials with a curated end-to- end revived supply chain, is tackling this issue by educating consumers, supporting farmers, and engaging policymakers to bring heirloom foods back into daily diets.
“By choosing heirloom foods, we’re naturally choosing the most sustainable way to eat,” Dixit explains.
For Dixit, the path forward is simple yet profound:
"By embracing heirloom foods, we're returning to the most natural way of eating—clean, nutritious, and minimally modified. This is precisely how food was always meant to be."
Eleved Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_eleved/?locale=th-TH&hl=en
Eleved LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/company/eleved
Other links: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/healthy-food-market
