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The Flavours of Nationalism: Recipes for Love, Hate and Friendship

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Author Nandita Haksar
ISBN 9789387693661
Published Language English
Publication Year 2018
Publisher Speaking Tiger
Binding Paperback
Pages 248
Ships By 2-3 days
SKU: ST-302 Categories: ,

Description

In this extraordinary book, Nandita Haksar recounts her culinary journey in search of answers to the fundamental questions posed by the recent controversies over food?what can we eat, who can we eat with, what foods are forbidden or denigrated, and what this says about our country.

In this memoir by an unashamed Indian, Haksar writes about how food shaped her awareness of politics, patriarchy, nationalism and socialism, from her childhood during the Nehruvian era onwards. She takes us on a thoughtful journey through India, from her Kashmiri Pandit family settled in Old Delhi and Lucknow, to human-rights activism on behalf of Nagas in Manipur; from grappling with feminist ideals, to considering the impact of a globalized food industry in Goa.

On a wider scale, she explains how our tastes and attitudes to food are shaped by caste, race, gender and class, exposing latent prejudices and bigotry. Haksar explores questions posed by food anthropologists and ecologists, and revisits debates between Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi on inter-dining. She also addresses the present controversies over beef-eating, vegetarianism and ideas of Hindu vs. Muslim food, in a milieu where debate is silenced.

With wry accounts of sharing meals with Burmese and Iraqi refugees, and arguing about bourgeois vs. proletarian tea in the Naxalite movement, the book also contains memorable recipes from the many people she has eaten with. At heart is her question that if Indians cannot imagine sitting with each other and sharing food with a sense of equality and respect, how then can a national unity be built?

About the author
Nandita Haksar is a human-rights lawyer, teacher, campaigner and writer. She has represented the victims of army atrocities in the North East India, Kashmiris framed in terrorism cases, migrant workers and refugees seeking asylum in India. She is the author of several books, including Nagaland File: A Question of Human Rights (co-edited with Luingam Luithui) (1984); Rogue Agent: How India?s Military Intelligence Betrayed the Burmese Resistance; ABC of Naga Culture and Civilization: A Resource Book (2011); The Judgement That Never Came: Army Rule in Northeast India (co-authored with Sebastian Hongray) (2011); Across the Chicken Neck: Travels in Northeast India (2013), The Many Faces of Kashmiri Nationalism: From the Cold War to the Present Day (2015), The Exodus Is Not Over: Migrations from the Ruptured Homelands of Northeast India (2016) and Antarctica: Profits of Discovery Nationalism Beyond Borders (forthcoming). Haksar lives in Goa, Delhi and sometimes Ukhrul, with her husband, Sebastian Hongray.

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Author

ISBN

Published Language

Publication Year

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Pages

248

Ships By

2-3 days