🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Gujaratis

Gujaratis are a people of the Indian state of Gujarat in western India. The state's best known meal is the Gujarati thali, a platter of assorted vegetarian dishes ². Dairy here belongs both to the home table and to the history of modern dairying ¹³.

Shrikhand is traditionally made at home in western India: dahi is drained through muslin for 4–8 hours, and the chakka is mixed with sugar and condiments ¹. Under the Indian standard cited by FAO, it has at least 58% total solids and at most 72.5% sucrose in dry matter ¹.

Chhaas is the buttermilk left after churning soured milk. It has 1–2% fat and is rich in protein and lactose. It is mostly drunk at home, and any surplus goes to cattle. Kadhi is made from it and served hot with rice, with a recipe that varies by region ¹.

A cooperative in Kaira district began by collecting just 250 litres of milk a day and became known as Amul. In 1986–87 it had more than 375,000 members. After seeing the success of Anand, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri brought about the National Dairy Development Board in 1965, and in 1970 the government approved Operation Flood ³.

Why it matters to you. Gujaratis showed that a cooperative of small producers can grow to a national scale: according to Verghese Kurien, Operation Flood reached half of India's districts and 5.5 million farm households ³. The dahi handi custom can also be seen in Gujarat ⁴.