GI Tagged Food in India

             It's a well known fact that different parts of the world, even different parts of the same country have different types of food. For example, Tamil Nadu is famous for idli's while Odisha is famous for Rasgulla's. This is what we associate "home cooked" food with. In Gangtok, food items such as Momo's are extremely common and hence are easily available and also cheap. But the same thing in Chennai would be available only at certain places and will also be relatively more expensive than at Bangkok.

             Geographical Indication (GI) is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific geographical location. The GI tag makes sure that the name of the popular product is not used by anyone else other than the registered and authorised users. Darjeeling tea became the first GI tagged product in India. After that, many products like Tirupathi laddu, Jaynagarer moa, Palakkadan Matta rice were named so for easy identification and promotion.

              These GI tagged food have proven to be helpful in promoting tourism as well. Everyone who goes to Darjeeling definitely visits the tea plantation and grabs one or two packets of tea, even if they don't need it. When you're in Kolkata, you'll definitely have rasgulla. Similarly, when you're in Kumbakonam, you'll definitely have filter coffee. These GI tagged food are specific to certain places and cannot be recreated perfectly. And this quality makes the food much more special.