Written by: Mahnoor Fatima
Posted on: March 26, 2021 | 
A Collection of Food from South Asia
Food is considered sacred to South Asians, not only because of the plethora of its tastes and spices but its ability to bring together friends and family. However, academics and writers have only recently begun to record our particular culinary histories. ‘Desi Delicacies: Food Writing from Muslim South Asia’, was launched at this year’s virtual Lahore Literature Festival to much excitement and intrigue. It aimed to compile a written history of the underrepresented yet culturally relevant topic of Muslim South Asian food, through the lives of those who eat and prepare them.
The book is compiled and edited by Claire Chambers, a Professor of Global Literature at the University of York, who specializes in literature from South Asia and the diaspora. This is part of a longer oral history project titled, “Forgotten Food: Culinary Memory, Local Heritage and Lost Agricultural Varieties in India”, compiled by Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, who also contributes to the book. Chambers sets out on a mission to celebrate and showcase the depth and diversity of South Asian flavors against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, when restaurants began to close down and community members helped ease the food shortage crisis.
Claire Chambers and Siobhan Lambert-Hurley
Chambers brings together 18 South Asian writers, chefs, historians, anthropologists and food lovers to discuss dishes that have defined home and heritage for them, whether they learnt to make them at home, in their university dorms or through elaborate feasts. She aimed to compile a publication that shows Muslims in a different light from what is normally said about the community. This comes in the backdrop of many prejudices surrounding Muslim eating habits, stereotypes about their carnivorous tendencies, food shortages and beef lynchings that have been taking place. The final product does not just discuss food, but also deals with issues of identity, gender, social class, family structures and others alike.
‘Desi Delicacies’ is divided into two major sections: Essays and Stories. The first half deals with non-fiction accounts of various dishes, their origins, and how they represent their communities as a whole. In the second half, each writer brings their unique storytelling skills to create a narrative which also hinges on a particular dish and its preparation. At the end of each essay and story is a recipe for a particular dish, mentioned along with a small black and white drawing, which allows readers to try out the delicious and mouthwatering treats mentioned in the pieces.
Ilish Pulao
The result is a dazzling, dizzying array of fiction and non-fiction, which informs as much as it provides some much needed escapism during the pandemic. With Rana Safvi, one revisits the dwindling culinary culture of Old Dehli, and Kaisar Haq’s “Alhamdulilah: With Gratitude and Relish”, takes readers through the culinary life of a Muslim in rural Bangladesh. In the fiction section, “Aftertaste” uses food to bring back the memory of a lost love, while “A Brief History of the Carrot”, marks the onslaught of a budding romance. There is so much more to explore, and these stories and essays are tied together by Chambers’ remarkable ability to capture authentic South Asian voices in their complexity and immediacy.
Rampuri Taar Gosht
Perhaps the essays felt somewhat more compelling than the narratives because there was an expectation that this would be an informative publication. The vast variation in tone between the pieces becomes somewhat confusing, especially when readers attempt to read multiple pieces in one setting. While the essay pieces celebrate the joy and power of cooking, the fictional works bring out a sense of melancholy and grief. While the struggle to preserve culinary tradition is a part of this book, the overuse of tragic and peculiar characters and situations sometimes overpowers the main aim of the book. The book ends on a somber note, with a story about the refugee crisis and themes of poverty.
While the uneven tone is the book’s weakness, diversity is perhaps the book’s strongest element. From the quaint homes of Muslim diaspora in the UK, to burgers restaurants in Karachi, marketplaces in Srinagar, and villages in Bangladesh, each piece is careful to create an entire context around which the main dish revolves. One gets to learn about other South Asian communities that are both similar and different from one’s own, and they each have unique ingredients and cooking methods, given the socio-economic needs of the time.
Katchi Biryani
While physical copies are yet to be sold in Pakistan, readers should anxiously await the arrival of ‘Desi Delicacies’ in bookstores. This ambitious endeavor is a feel-good celebration of what food means to Muslim South Asian households, and the legacy Muslim cooking has had on South Asia. It captures the complexities, the feelings and associations people have with the dinner table. Perhaps most of all, it shows readers that our mutual love of food and our communities binds us together, even when we are geographically apart.
Zarda
This idea is driven home by Sibohan Lambert-Hurley in the afterword, “Food can divide us, but also bridge the gaps. Over a meal or even one dessert, friendships are forged and a lifetime of adventures launched.”
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