Pulled in by the allure of South Indian cuisine, I frequented a restaurant in Kyoto where, one day, I met a young man from Tamil Nadu in the south of India. He told me that he ran a company that made fabric with the cotton they grew. Not only that, he had an incredible love of cooking and taught me in great detail about different types of local vegetables and how to grow them. I wondered why someone whose job was to make fabrics was so well versed in farming, vegetables, and soil.

From the 1970s and ’80s, many regions in South India were growing genetically modified cotton. The offshoot of this was that the soil became exhausted and crops wouldn’t grow anymore without the help of fertilisers. Apparently before this change, farmers grew crops that would sustain insects, birds, humans, cows—all life—while also rejuvenating the soil.

My interest in South Indian cuisine took me to the home of this traditional regenerative farming in South India. From 2024 to 2025, I visited Erode, a city in Tamil Nadu, and undertook field research in regenerative farming with the cooperation of the Oshadi Collective who produce regenerative cotton locally. I wrote a number of essays during this time which are collected in Oshadi Zine, a zine which will be introduced at an exhibition at Seikosha, a bookshop in Kyoto.

During the production of the zine, Misa Ito created diagrams using papercutting which depict how farming can reinvigorate the natural cycle. Ito’s works will also be on display at the exhibition. There will be a talk event at 7 p.m. on July 12 at Seikosha featuring Haruhi Tanaka, a specialist of South Indian cuisine and owner of Haruhina Spice & Food. Snacks using black gram beans and peanuts, grown in fields in Erode, will also be on sale.

Through our clothes and our food, everything comes from the fertile earth. From the perspective of creation and cooking, I would like to continue to explore what it means to participate in the natural cycle.

Yoshiko Nagai
Curator / Producer. Founder of the production label Materia Prima. Based on field work, her production work focuses on the relationship between nature, resources, and people. Her recent projects include “Water Calling” and editorial for “Savoir & Faire TERRE” and “Savoir & Faire METAL” by the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès (Iwanami Shoten). Between 2024 and 2025, she researched organizations in Tamil Nadu, South India, which engage in creative practice while revitalizing the natural world and communities. She produced the Oshadi Zine project.

Misa Ito
Papercutting artist, shadow puppeteer, painter, and illustrator. Based in Tokushima Prefecture. In addition to her exhibitions and shadow puppet shows, she creates prints, designs book covers and inserts as well as logos and flyers. Her works are praised for their balance of boldness and delicateness.

Haruhi Tanaka
Specialist of South Indian cuisine and owner of Haruhina Spice & Food. She first encountered South Indian cuisine in 2014 and visited South India while working at a restaurant in Kyoto. While there, she researched all kinds of food including stalls, restaurants, and home cooking. From January 2024 to August 2025, she ran the restaurant Haruhina Spice & Food in Hyakumanben, Kyoto. From September of that year, she began a new endeavor and started doing South Indian food-related pop ups, catering events, dinner parties, and cooking lessons in Kyoto. In 2024, she joined the research taking place in Erode, Tamil Nadu. There she studied home cooking.

Exhibition: Nutritious Water – Why does growing more cotton enrich your table?
Dates: July 1, 2026 – July 15
*There will be a talk event on July 12 at 19:00. South Indian snacks will be on sale.
Venue: Seikosha (437 Nakamachi-dori Maruta-machi Agaru Tawaraya-cho, Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto)
In collaboration with: Oshadi Collective