Civilising the Tastebuds
When Techi Nimi remembers her years at boarding schools, it is laced with memories of hunger. She longed for Arunachalee food, which was never served.
Books on Food
On hunting the hilsa and mastering its bones
Shorshe ilish, perhaps the most popular technique of cooking hilsa, involves simmering and serving cuts of the fish in a mustard sauce so pungent that its wallop reaches right into your sinuses, writes Samanth Subramania…
Grinding Songs are a Reflection of Goa’s Intangible Cultural Heritage
While women from certain communities in Goa are barred from the home and kitchen during menstruation, they are allowed to grind grains on the grinding stone. In this section of 'Grinding Stories Retold: Songs from Goa’,…
Vishalakshi Padmanabhan is Devoted to Preserving Heirloom Rice Varieties
In this chapter of 'Why Cook’, Archana Pidathala tells us about Vishalakshi Padmanabhan, founder of Buffalo Back Collective in Bangalore. Vishala’s guiding principle for the organic store is rooted in the food ethic she…
Mrs K.M. Mathew gained popularity after her column on Mutton Bafath
Generations of Malayalis have grown up with Mrs K.M.Mathew’s treasured cookbooks. Read the foreword of her latest book, Mrs K.M. Mathew’s Finest, by her daughter Thangam Mammen. In a short interview with her, we discover…
An Excerpt From The 1Shanthiroad Cookbook
Like most other things at 1Shanthiroad,an arts space in Bangalore,the kitchen is open to all. Suresh Jayaram remembers bright flavours from his childhood, and talks about how his family’s affinity towards feeding influen…
An Excerpt From The Sweet Salt of Tamil: Things We Do Not Know About Tamil Country
The Tamils of the past regarded salt as a symbol of taste and wealth. Read this short excerpt from The Sweet Salt of Tamil in which chronicler Tho Paramisavan writes on salt, feeling, and the symbolism of salt in Tamil c…
An Excerpt from Spiced, Smoked, Pickled, Preserved: Recipes and Reminiscences From India’s Eastern Hills
In the opening chapter of the book, author Indranee Ghosh writes about her grandfather’s culinary adventures in Cherrapunji, where he had just moved to work as a preacher for the Brahmo Samaj.