A Matter Of Taste

A Matter Of Taste

Product ID: 14417

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Author: Nilanjana S Roy
Editor(s): Nilanjana S Roy
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 363
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143031481

Description

A delectable collection of writing on food and its place in our lives that brings together some of the most significant Indian voices over the last century.

From lavish meals, modern diets and cooking lessons that serve as a rite of passage to fake fasts and real ones, fish, feni and fiery meals that smack of revenge, this book has something to satisfy every palates.

Gandhi's guilt-ridden account of his failed flirtation with eating meant starkly complements Ruchir Joshi's toast to the senses as he describes his characters discovering a truly alternative use for some perfectly innocent shrikhand. In unique gastronomic takes on history, Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and Saadat Hasan Manto ensure that we will never look at chutney, a Tibetan momo or jelly in quite the same way again. Food becomes the less appetizing religious line of control for Abdul Bismillah's guest when a simple meal illustrates the rather thin divide between guest and host, while subtler shades of deprivation mark Anjana Appachana's Anu as she keeps a fast that reeks of prejudice. And in faraway lands, across the seven seas, the search for fresh fish accentuates the loneliness of a life without familiar moorings for Jhumpa Lahiri's Mrs Sen even as Anita Desai's Arun learns from his American hosts the importance of keeping the freezer full.

As much about food as it is about good-writing. A Matter of Taste serves up a veritable feast for the senses and food for thought to sample or devour, as one pleases.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION: SETTING THE TABLE

INDIVIDUAL PORTIONS

SALMAN RUSHDIE
On Leavened Bread

BUSYBEE
My First Buffet Lunch

VIR SANGHVI
Past Times: First Tastes That Lasted Forever

ROHINTON MISTRY
Gustad’s Chicken

M K GANDHI
Eating Meat

FRANK SIMOES
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Feni but Were Too Drunk to Ask

SUDHA KOUL
Flesh in the Valley

GITHA HARIHARAN
The Remains of the Feast

HISTORY ON A PLATTER

MUKUL KESAVAN
Banquet Nationalism

E M FORSTER
The Outsider’s Thali

I ALLAN SEALY
Trotter Laws

GEOFFREY C WARD AND DIANE R WARD
English Soup

SAADAT HASAN MANTO
Jelly

SALMAN RUSHDIE
Chutnification

AMITAV GHOSH
Tibetan Dinner

FOOD AND THE SENSES

RAJ KAMAL JHA
Baby Food

ANURADHA ROY
Cooking Women

BUSYBEE
Charms of Life

RADHIKA JHA
Initiation

RADHIKA JOSHI
Shrikhand

MULK RAJ ANAND
Bread for the Sweeper

SUKETU MEHTA
Black-Collar Workers

SARAT CHANDRA CHATTERJEE
Mahesh

PURABI BASU
French Leave

ABDUL BISMILLAH
Guest is God

P SAINATH
Everybody Loves a Good Drought

MASALA MIX

VIR SANGHVI
Bhelpuri: It’s All about Texture

BULBUL SHARMA
The Anger of Aubergines

DAVID DAVIDAR
The Great Mango Yatra

CHITRA BENERJEE DIVAKARUNI
The Secrets of Spices

I ALLAN SEALY
Just Desserts

DEPRIVATION

BIBHUTIBHUSHAN BANDOPADHYAYA
Apu’s Trials

R K NARAYAN
Fasting

MANJULA PADMANABHAN
The Diet

ANJANA APPACHANA
Leftovers

MAHASWETA DEVI
Salt

ACROSS THE SEVEN SEAS

JHUMPA LAHIRI
Mrs Sen’s

V S NAIPAUL
Mr Biswas Rebels

ANITA DESAI
Shopping for More

CHITRITA BENERJI
A Barisal Winter

ATUL GAWANDE
The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Eating

NOTES ON CONTIBUTORS

COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS