At the Kasimedu fish market in Chennai, fisherfolk are seeing a decline in their catch. Throvnica Chandrasekar captures the sights and smells of the market, and examines the reasons for the dwindling fish along the coast.
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 grew up with: to waste nothing, and cherish everything.
Dolon Dutta Chowdhury shares her mother’s version of Mourola Maach er Tok Jhal, her take on the traditional Bengali Tok – a light sweet-and-sour dish served towards the end of a Bengali meal.
Through her practice, artist Rajyashri Goody probes the perversions of caste in India, and how food forms a locus where the interplay of power and powerlessness is unfortunately most evident.
Author and cultural historian Dr. Tarana Husain Khan talks to The Locavore about tasting egg flip as a child, the tricky business of recording oral history, and growing up in a family of armchair cooks.
Moving across continents makes everyday practices such as cooking and feeding much more self-conscious, Krishnendu Ray tells us. A renowned food studies scholar, Ray talks to us about his changed perception of cooking, parenting, and his Didu’s jaggery-sweetened moorki.
Jestin Pauls (interview) & Sharanya Manivannan (translation from Tamil)
What does it mean to be in tune with changing seasons? Janagiamma, a leader of the indigeneous Kurumba community in the Nilgiris, tells us that millets and bamboo are good for the monsoons.
Professor and chef Kiranmayi Bhushi spoke to us about cooking for artists in Chicago, her grandfather’s farm in coastal Andhra Pradesh, and Lakshmi Charu—a traditional dish that’s making a comeback.