'Haldi doodh is golden milk at Starbucks’: Mumbai founder says Indians mocked own traditions and now buy them at 25x price

Aarti Sheth Cooper, co-founder of a Mumbai-based branding company, criticised the global wellness industry for "colonial rebranding" of Indian health traditions. 

Mumbai founder slams global wellness company

“What your dadi called a nuskha… is now sitting on a luxury wellness shelf for ₹1,200,” she wrote on LinkedIn.

She further explained how the West bought the ingredients from India and then bottled, branded, and priced those items 25x higher.

“Haldi doodh, that we’ve sipped for generations whenever we felt under the weather, is now called golden milk at Starbucks,” the Mumbai startup founder said. “So, ₹20 a cup becomes ₹500 in a cafe.”

She elaborated how Amla juice, the most basic immunity boost in Indian homes, is now an antioxidant super shot at Erewhon, with ₹40 becoming ₹800.

“Even ashwagandha, what your grandparents called a tonic, is now repackaged as trendy stress-relief gummies at goop for ₹1,200,” she shared.

Aarti remarked that the same thing can be said about neem paste, shatavari, makhana and more products.

“For decades, we’ve dismissed our own traditions as backward,” she opined. “Mocked the nuskhas.”

However, we are clapping when those very items are coming back with a foreign branding, she claimed.

Aarti said that it is sad and shameful if we do not change our Indian mindset.

“Because this is not just about Colonial Rebranding meeting 🇮🇳 Cultural Amnesia,” the founder said.

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Mumbai entrepreneur urges Indians to shape own legacy

She urged that if we do not shape our own legacy and wait for approval from the West, we will lose our identity.

“If we don’t, someone else will…and then our identity won’t feel like ours anymore,” Aarti Sheth Cooper concluded.

Who is Aarti Sheth Cooper?

Cooper is the founder of Idea Studio World. The 2020-founded branding and content writing startup provides customer-centric solutions to various industries like FMCG, Luxury, Real Estate, Pharma, Fashion, Food & Beverage, Apparel and more.

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