Gastronomical Odyssey: A Take on Culinary Cultures

An Introduction

Cities are home to a vast majority of people from different regional, ethnic, religious and socio-economic background, each having their own food habits, consumption patterns and food practices. When different culinary cultures intermingle and get manifested in the city spaces they either lead to culinary contestations or to realignments of tastes. It is at this juncture that the gastronomical odyssey of a city or a nation begins…

This series captures the spatialities of food and the complex food practices that the various culinary cultures have to offer. Food forms the locus around which identities are constructed, conviviality and belonging are fostered and distinctions are marked.The present series begins with a simple documentation of a national cuisine, focusing on its regional spatialities, moves on to the narrative of an ethnic cuisine in India and finally questions the very basis of the project “Gastronomical Odyssey...” through South Asian English poetry .

Rikhia feels that India is a mini-world in terms of culinary spatialities created through “culinary cosmopolitanism”. Through Rikhia’s article we take a tour of the Indian cuisine-its various regional specialities shaped by its complex geography, history, religion and cultural traditions that have gone on to shape its complex culinary cultures.

Maheta’s post takes us on a gastronomic expedition to the state of Manipur. She focuses on the cuisine of the Manipuri Meiteis who are the Hindunon-tribals residing in the area. She highlights how the regional specialities differ from a pan- Indian cuisine through the use of local ingredients. She talks of local ingredients like the ngaari and the world’s hottest chilli the umrok that are grown locally in the north eastern states of India. Through the festival of Cheiroba that marks the celebration of the commencement of the Manipuri new year,she documents various local recipes. Fish forms an imp part of the Manipuri diet though it is fermented fish that is mostly used as an ingredient to enhance the taste of the dishes.

While the first post documents the regional cuisines of India and the second focuses on a particular cuisine’s delectable food preparations, Supurna looks at the “alternative cartographies of consumption and deprivation, identity and belonging” through South Asian English poetry namely Hunger , Taste for Tomorrow and The Lahore Karai. Concerned about people’s lack of access to food Supurna feels that a gastronomical odyssey is “bourgeoisie endeavour” as spaces of food consumption mostly involves some kind of privileges that many cannot afford.

Author's Bio- Note:

Aditi Das is currently pursuing her M.Phil from Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. Her interest in studying food cultures comes from her almost obsessive love for cooking and eating.

 Series Editor: Aditi Das