What exactly is ‘Indian’ food? Can it be classified by region, or religion, or
ritual? What are the culinary commonalities across the Indian subcontinent?
Do we Indians have a sense of collective self when it comes to cuisine? Or is
the pluralism in our food habits and choices the only identity we have ever
needed?
Turmeric Nation is an ambitious and insightful project which answers these
questions, and then quite a few more. Through a series of fascinating essays—
delving into geography, history, myth, sociology, film, literature and personal
experience—Shylashri Shankar traces the myriad patterns that have formed
Indian food cultures, taste preferences and cooking traditions. From Dalit
‘haldiya dal’ to the last meal of the Buddha; from aphrodisiacs listed in the
Kama Sutra to sacred foods offered to gods and prophets; from the use of food
as a means of state control in contemporary India to the role of lemonade in
stoking rebellion in 19th-century Bengal; from the connection between death
and feasting and between fasting and pleasure, this book offers a layered and
revealing portrait of India, as a society and a nation, through its enduring
relationship with food.