On June 19, Bhumi Pednekar took her Instagram followers on a culinary tour of the Art of Living International Center, founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, in Bengaluru. In the detailed video shared under the title ‘Bhooki Bhumi (hungry Bhoomi)’, the actor highlighted the scale of the ashram’s daily operations, which married massive food production with ‘zero-waste sustainability’. Also read | Festive feasting: The satvik route
Throughout the video, Bhumi wore serene ethnic looks tailored to the spiritual environment. She alternated between two distinct looks: a graceful brown suit paired with a rudraksha mala, and a clean, minimalist white button-down tunic.
She wrote in her caption, “My visit to the Art of Living ashram in Bengaluru was the perfect blend of spirituality and food, both deeply nourishing for the soul. Every day, their mega kitchen prepares satvik, wholesome meals for nearly 25,000 people, offered free of cost.”
Art of Living ashram’s diverse ‘satvik’ feast
The video captured Bhumi sampling a vast array of fresh, plant-based foods served at the ashram, which ranged from traditional south Indian staples to global and north Indian variations. Gazing over the buffet layout, she remarked: “Hello, Namaste. We are in Bangalore (Bengaluru) at the beautiful ashram. This is the menu: palak paneer, rasam. Oh wow, there are pakoras too! Great!”
Her first meal began with a nourishing starter. “First, we have bottle gourd (lauki) soup,” she noted, followed by a taste test of a colourful salad spread and main courses: “Then we have some quinoa salad, then some pasta, and lauki halwa.”
Transitioning to breakfast, Bhumi highlighted a variety of traditional items alongside on-site-baked bakery goods: “We have vermicelli upma, rava idli, coconut chutney, and sambar. This is some homemade strawberry jam with homemade ragi bread. So good! These croissants are also made here in the bakery.”
While reviewing her breakfast plate, she offered a personal health tip: “Fun fact: I have sprouts every day for breakfast. We also have a plate of homegrown guavas; a guava is full of vitamin C.”
Later in the video, she dived into a second round of regional delicacies. Bhumi said, “So, this is our menu. Our first round is kachori — outstanding! Let’s have some cold pasta salad. Okay, next we are going to try some north Indian food; there is some paneer and roti. Last and final: papad, koshimbir (salad), tamarind rice, some rasam rice, and white pumpkin in curd and coconut… vermicelli payasam (dessert).”
Inside the mega kitchen
Beyond the taste test, Bhumi shed light on the mechanics behind feeding tens of thousands of people sustainably. Donning a hygienic hairnet over her white tunic, she guided viewers through a massive industrial-scale kitchen. “We are in this mega kitchen where food is prepared for 25,000 people daily, and 10,000 rotis are made an hour,” Bhumi explained, panning the camera across automated roti-making conveyor belts, massive metal steamers, and mechanical grinding stations.
What stood out most to the actor was the facility’s closed-loop waste management system: “Whatever waste the ashram produces is composted, and food is cooked using that biogas. So, there is complete circularity here. And these are all the big steamers. Spices are freshly ground here. All the ingredients that need to be roasted are done here.”
She added in her caption, “From milk sourced from their own gaushala to breads, jams, and produce made in-house, everything reflects a philosophy of intention, self-sufficiency and circularity. What stayed with me most, though, was the love. Because sometimes food isn’t just about taste, it’s about service, community, and the people behind every meal. I left with a full heart, a fuller stomach, and a deeper appreciation for what it truly means to make a person’s life better.”
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