Turmeric Nation: A Passage Through India's Tastes

DescriptionWhat exactly is Indian food? Can it be classified by region or religion orritual? What are the culinary commonalities across the Indian subcontinent?Do we Indians have a sense of collective self when it comes to cuisine? Or isthe pluralism in our food habits and choices the only identity we have everneeded?Turmeric Nation is an ambitious and insightful project which answers thesequestions and then quite a few more. Through a series of fascinating essays-delving into geography history myth sociology film literature and personalexperience-Shylashri Shankar traces the myriad patterns that have formedIndian food cultures taste preferences and cooking traditions. From Dalithaldiya dal to the last meal of the Buddha; from aphrodisiacs listed in theKama Sutra to sacred foods offered to gods and prophets; from the use of foodas a means of state control in contemporary India to the role of lemonade instoking rebellion in 19th-century Bengal; from the connection between deathand feasting and between fasting and pleasure this book offers a layered andrevealing portrait of India as a society and a nation through its enduringrelationship with food.