The intersectionality of food, culture and region is relevant to understand in-depth the history of any nation. India is no exception. In fact, a wonderful example of this intersectionality can be understood using India as an example. Many historians have traced the history of Indian food in the last years.
India has a few notable food historians and the first name that comes to mind would have to be Dr. Pushpesh Pant. Dr. Pant is a retired professor from JNU who is a household name when it comes to Indian cuisines and its history. In his popular TED talk, ‘Food in the Making of the Nation’, Dr. Pant elaborates on food being the identifier of every civilization. He does it through three major interesting elements namely, “The tyranny of the Tandoor”, “The myth of the Mughalya” and finally “The curse of the curry”. He helps us understand that all three elements allows the world to normalize and oversimplify food from India. The most thought-provoking element being the myth of the Mughalya where he accounts for all the Mughal emperors who ruled India didn’t really spend money, like or develop any cuisines of their own. Rather, it was the zamindars/Talukdars who popularized some items under this banner post-Mughal period to simply please the British! In his talk, he also questions the demarcation cuisines of various regions. This is a great example that acknowledges the intersectionality between food, culture and region and it goes a step further to also explain the complexity which arises due to migration of food across the nation.
Here is the link to Dr. Pant’s TED Talk — https://youtu.be/beNfe9miyFY
In Rick Stein’s India, a documentary by BBC with the famous Rick Stein, a chef and restaurateur from the UK explores food from Madurai and Kerala. In his time in Madurai, he visits the Meenakshi Temple and understands the food prepared there is deeply connected to the Hindu religion. He also makes a comparison to the food being sold in Cathedrals in Britain and how it could be perceived to be blessed by the gods.
Here is the link to the Documentary — https://youtu.be/2yNDLxVmVw0
Figure 1: Indian Cuisine, Source — https://www.theculinaryhistorian.com/indian-cuisine/
This photograph is taken from the website published by Ashish Chopra, a well-known food historian and chef. The problem with this image, rather the trouble with this image is that these recommendations per region do not justify it’s origin. It is merely a normalized set of recommendations because these cuisines are popular in these regions. I still think sufficient evidence about its history must be discovered before its story can be shared with certainty.
For example, take Dosai, its history can be traced back to Udupi which is in Karnataka although it is now a very common breakfast in all parts of Tamil Nadu. While historian K.T Acharya affirms the story of Dosa and Vada do come from Udupi, interestingly, in the news article that revisits the life of K.T, they mention that he traced idli, a popular South Indian breakfast that has connections to Indonesia. Apparently, the fermentation technique of the batter was brought into India by the Hindu Kings from Indonesia!
Here is the link to the news article- http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/food-his-story/379818/0
From all the above examples, an interesting insight is that food travels. Because of this, authenticity and originality still are compromised. The perception, all that we consume in these regions are native to India is still questionable. The surety of its history cannot be shared until sufficient evidence can be gathered. It is still important to understand that native to India should mean that the ingredients and processing would still have to be purely contextual. Just merely, considering the popularity or the normalization of a cuisine does not guarantee it to be included in the history. In her blog, Getting Started on Food History, Rachel Laudan, a historian who has also explored food, explains that those who write about food need to research the sources, think and write.
Therefore, the next time you have a conversation with someone about the history of Indian food, the most important question you need to ask is — How do you know? And in this case, curiosity shall not kill the cat!
