In India, food can indeed be patented. It basically has the same restrictions as filing for a patent in the United States. The food must be new, inventive, and must have taken some kind of labor to put together. In India, many forget that they need to be able to show that they didn’t just take things off the shelf, dump them in a bowl, and mix.
You have to heat, chop, etc. in order to qualify on this particular part of the patent process. Others may forget that they have to show how their food is different from other foods. This can be difficult to do; how is one hazelnut soup different from another? Some decide not to pursue a patent because of this.
