Setting The Table: Stories from India’s Food Cultures is a collaboration between Powerhouse and The Locavore. Across six stories and original recipes, we share and celebrate the depth, nuance and living traditions of contemporary regional Indian food cultures.
Located in Sydney, Powerhouse Museum is the largest museum group in Australia. Powerhouse sits at the intersection of the arts, design, science and technology and plays a critical role in engaging communities with contemporary ideas and issues. In a collaboration spanning six stories, Setting The Table: Stories from India’s Food Cultures, The Locavore and Powerhouse come together to make India’s diverse foodscapes accessible to a global audience.
The stories explore the concept of preservation across various regions and interpretations, accompanied by regional recipes that readers can try in their own kitchens. Together, they are an impetus to acknowledge that ‘Indian food’ is anything but monolithic, and communicate the variety and complexity of foods from the subcontinent.
“This collaboration grew from a belief shared by Powerhouse and The Locavore: that food is culture, memory, and connection. At Powerhouse, we value projects that connect to place and honour community knowledge. Setting the Table: Stories from India’s Food Cultures does this with care and depth. It recognises the richness of India’s regional food cultures while examining the forces that shape what we eat and what we carry forward: ecology, labour, migration, and change. This series is especially meaningful for Western Sydney’s Indian diaspora community, whose living knowledge of these food traditions is central to the stories we’re sharing. We value The Locavore‘s extensive network of local writers, chefs, and photographers, whose perspectives are core to this series. Our measure of success is sharing recipes and stories that are authentic, accessible, and culturally grounded. Setting the Table delivers exactly that and celebrates food as a living tradition.”
—Kylie Kwong, Powerhouse Food
Outcomes
- A series of editorial features, each focussed on one central theme pertinent in the larger conversation, such as how eating habits are determined by migration and ethnic experiences, or how traditionality is being adapted to modern circumstances.
- A series of accompanying recipes, allowing readers to prepare and taste the foods featured in the stories. This, we hope, will allow a global audience to experience diverse flavours, and connect with the stories materially as well.
Stories
Eating Singju and Kangsoi in Delhi’s Humayunpur
In the changing landscape of Delhi’s Humayunpur neighbourhood, migrants from Manipur assert their food identities.
Famine, Migration and The History of Bengal’s Zero-Waste Culinary Culture
In Bengal’s kitchens, curdled milk becomes sandesh; vegetable peels become khosha bhaja and bata; and fish is relished from scale to tail.
A Mumbai Without Pav?
Changing regulations and a shortage of gas supply affects not only Mumbai’s bakeries, but also the demographic that relies on them for its daily bread.
What Role do Modern Chefs Play in Goa’s Ever-Changing Landscape?
Goa’s food and beverage industry shimmers with innovation, despite its fertile foodscapes facing threat. What role do chefs play in resolving this dichotomy?
Recipes
Singju: Seasonal Manipuri Salad
A seasonal Manipuri salad that can be made with smoked meat, ngari, or kept entirely vegetarian.
Daata Chorchori: Vegetable Stir-fry with Moringa Pods
This simple vegetable stir-fry from Bengal niftily uses leftover vegetables and food scraps.
Chicken Gassi
This creamy, fragrant chicken curry from coastal Karnataka is best paired with rotti or neer dosas.
“When it comes to long-term impact, I’d really like to see this project inspire tangible change in climate and agricultural policy at both state and national levels. A much more realistic hope is to centre perspectives of smallholder farmers, and make people aware of the challenges farming communities face, and how they are adapting to the climate crisis. If even a small group of people make conscious changes in their diets (and how they interact with food) after reading these stories, I think the project would be considered a success.”
—Yashvi Shah, Senior Partnerships Copywriter, The Locavore
This collaboration between The Locavore and Powerhouse Museum, Australia, aims to highlight diverse undertold stories about India’s culinary landscape to a non-native reader, adding texture to global narratives about Indian food.
Explore Setting the Table on Powerhouse Museum’s website.
