Bhubaneswar: High in the forests of northern Odisha, red weaver ants guard their homes fiercely. Their nests, carefully stitched together from fresh green leaves, hang from tree branches like little woven baskets. One careless touch, and hundreds of ants rush out, their bites sharp enough to make even experienced collectors wince.
Yet, for generations, the tribal communities living around the forests of Mayurbhanj have climbed these very trees without hesitation. They know exactly where to find the nests, how to gather them by hand, and how to transform the tiny insects into something that has nourished their families for centuries.
For them, kai chutney is not an unusual delicacy. It is lunch. It is medicine. It is tradition passed from grandparents to grandchildren. Today, this humble forest recipe has earned national recognition. Similipal Kai chutney, prepared from red weaver ants locally known as kai pimpudi, received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2024, recognising it as a product deeply rooted in the identity and culture of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.
But long before it found a place on official registers, it already held a place at the centre of community life.
A recipe born in the forest
Preparing kai chutney is surprisingly simple.
Freshly collected ants and their larvae are cleaned before being ground with salt, garlic, ginger and chillies. The result is a thick, fiery paste that is smoky, intensely spicy and unmistakably sour—a flavour locals have grown up with.
The star ingredient is the red weaver ant, Oecophylla smaragdina. Found throughout the year, these ants are remarkable architects. Using silk produced by their larvae, they weave living leaves into sturdy nests that can survive heavy rain and strong winds. Some are no bigger than a person’s hand; others stretch over half a metre across the branches.
Inside, thousands of ants live in organised colonies, each with workers, major workers and queens. Collecting them is no easy task. Their painful bite delivers formic acid, a natural chemical that makes harvesting both challenging and memorable. Ironically, that same sting is also believed to hold healing power.
More than a meal
Among the tribal communities of Mayurbhanj, kai chutney is eaten as much for health as for taste. Traditional healers prepare oils infused with red weaver ants to treat fungal infections, ringworm and inflamed skin. The oil is massaged onto aching joints to ease rheumatism and gout. Soups and chutneys made from the ants are commonly served during seasonal coughs, colds and flu, with many believing they help improve appetite and strengthen the body.
For generations, these practices were guided by lived experience rather than laboratory evidence. Now, science is beginning to explain why.
Researchers from Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) have found that red weaver ants are rich in protein and essential micronutrients, including calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium, zinc, copper and vitamin B-12. In remote forest regions where access to diverse foods can be limited, the ants have quietly served as a valuable nutritional supplement for decades.
Deepak Mohanty, senior scientist and head of Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Jashipur in Mayurbhanj district, says the ants continue to play an important role in protecting the health of local tribal communities. Besides chutney, they are also consumed as soups and used in traditional medicinal preparations.
A lesson in sustainable living
As the world searches for climate-friendly sources of protein, the people of Mayurbhanj have been living the answer all along.
Scientists increasingly view edible insects as one of the most sustainable protein sources available. They require far fewer natural resources than conventional livestock and produce significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions.
For the communities living around Similipal, however, harvesting red weaver ants has never been about following global food trends. It is about living with the forest rather than extracting from it.
The ants are collected from thriving ecosystems that have sustained people for generations, making kai chutney a powerful example of how Indigenous knowledge often anticipates ideas the modern world later rediscovers.
Recognition for a community tradition
The journey to national recognition began in 2020 when The Mayurbhanj Kai Society Ltd applied for a GI tag.
Founded in 2018, the collective has spent years introducing kai chutney to audiences beyond tribal communities through food festivals and public awareness campaigns.
According to the society’s secretary, Nayadhar Padhial, the aim has always been to highlight not only the chutney’s distinctive taste but also its nutritional value and cultural importance. The GI tag, awarded in 2024, acknowledges far more than a recipe.
It recognises the knowledge of communities who understood sustainable food systems long before phrases like “alternative protein” and “climate-smart diets” entered public conversation.
In the forests of Mayurbhanj, a meal may still begin with a sting. But for those who call these forests home, that sting has always been part of a story—one of resilience, nourishment and a tradition that refuses to fade.