Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
In this memoir by an unashamed Indian, Haksar writes about how food shaped her awareness of politics, patriarchy, nationalism and socialism, from her childhood during the Nehruvian era onwards. She takes us on a thoughtful journey through India, from her Kashmiri Pandit family settled in Old Delhi and Lucknow, to human-rights activism on behalf of Nagas in Manipur; from grappling with feminist ideals, to considering the impact of a globalized food industry in Goa.
On a wider scale, she explains how our tastes and attitudes to food are shaped by caste, race, gender and class, exposing latent prejudices and bigotry. Haksar explores questions posed by food anthropologists and ecologists, and revisits debates between Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi on inter-dining. She also addresses the present controversies over beef-eating, vegetarianism and ideas of Hindu vs. Muslim food, in a milieu where debate is silenced.
With wry accounts of sharing meals with Burmese and Iraqi refugees, and arguing about bourgeois vs. proletarian tea in the Naxalite movement, the book also contains memorable recipes from the many people she has eaten with. At heart is her question that if Indians cannot imagine sitting with each other and sharing food with a sense of equality and respect, how then can a national unity be built?
Synopsis
Description
In this extraordinary memoir, Nandita Haksar uses memories and ideas of
food to ask fundamental questions about what we eat, who we eat with, who
starves and who feasts, which foods are forbidden or denigrated-and what
all this says about our country. Starting with her childhood in the 1950s,
Haksar takes us on a fascinating journey through India, from wedding feasts
in her Kashmiri Pandit family settled in Old Delhi and Lucknow, to humanrights
activism on behalf of Nagas in Manipur; from listening to testimonies of
women working in Kerala's fisheries, to witnessing the impact of a globalized
food industry on livelihoods in Goa. She examines how our tastes and
attitudes to food are shaped by caste, class, religion, race and gender, and she
addresses the recent controversies over beef-eating, and 'Hindu' vs 'Muslim'
food. Scattered through the book are brilliant anecdotes-by turns startling,
amusing and moving-about culinary rituals and curiosities, and memorable
recipes from the many people Haksar has eaten with.
And always at the heart of the narrative is a fundamental question: How can a
people who won't eat together, as equals, stay united?