Home Cooked Meal with a Dharavi Family
About this tour
Most food tours show you what a city sells. This one shows you what it cooks at home.
You sit down to a full meal in a family home in Dharavi, cooked by the person who cooks it every day. You can help if you want to, or simply sit and eat and talk. Your guide translates, and after a while stops needing to.
What you will experience
- A home-cooked meal in a family home in Dharavi
- Cook alongside your host if you want to, or simply sit and watch
- Learn the spice blends that make Maharashtrian and South Indian home food different
- Eat what the family eats, not a version made for visitors
- Conversation across the table, with your guide translating where needed
- A short walk through the neighbourhood before or after, depending on the time
What is included
- A full home-cooked meal, vegetarian or non-vegetarian
- Expert English-speaking local guide and translator
- Cooking participation if you would like it
- Chai and a sweet to finish
- A fair payment to the host family, included in the price
What you will see
What our guests say
5.0 out of 5 · 1,347 reviews across TripAdvisor and Google
The storytelling made everything easy to follow and genuinely engaging. Questions were answered honestly, including the awkward ones, which I appreciated.
This was my third tour with the same guide. He is the best ambassador the Dharavi community could possibly have, and I keep bringing friends back to meet him.
An uplifting and deeply educational visit. I felt genuinely welcomed and safe the entire way through, and left with a completely different picture of Dharavi than the one I arrived with.
Meeting point
Common questions
Families we know personally, who have chosen to host. They are paid properly for it, and that payment is part of what you pay us. This is not a staged setup.
No. Some guests roll chapatis and grind spices, others sit and talk. Both are welcome, and your host will not mind either way.
Both are available. Tell us when booking. Most homes cook vegetarian by default and it is exceptionally good.
Yes. The kitchens we work with are ones our own families eat in. Tell us about allergies when you book and the host will cook around them.
Home food is usually milder than restaurant food, but it is still Indian home cooking. Say so when booking and your host will adjust.
Nothing is expected. If you would like to bring something small, fruit or sweets are appropriate. Ask your guide rather than guessing.
Around two and a half hours, most of it at the table. It is not a tour that runs to a schedule.
Yes, and most guests do. Book the Dharavi tour for the morning and the meal for the afternoon, and we will arrange the same guide across both.
Often booked together
Dharavi Tour, Pottery and Family Meal
Dharavi Slum & City Tour
Elephanta Caves and Mumbai Sightseeing Full Day Tour
Booking more than one tour? Contact us and we will build a combined itinerary with a single guide across your day.