FOOD

Answers to this question got me a taste of the most real everyday food. “What have you got for lunch?”, I asked my colleague who had recently shifted to Mumbai.…

It had been about 15 minutes since we were talking. I was doing my best to absorb what he was saying but an undisputedly impossible thought kept nagging me. Have…

“Food is fuel.” These are the words every Guru, mentor, instructor or coach I’ve ever had, constantly drilled into me and the many others I grew up dancing with. They…

A conversation over good food is always remembered.People forget everything but food. Sadaf believes so. He considers it one of the two most significant life lessons that cooking has taught…

After an agonizing three-day journey from Nagaon, Assam, we reached Sukro didi’s house. Didi and her family belong to the Oram or Kurukh tribal community from Sundargarh, Orissa – a…

I feel some kind of second-hand sadness in the summers,for those who have never tasted mangoes.I’m not speaking of the ones you bought today, or yesterday, or last week, or last…

So, how would you define Aamti?“Please don’t call it a curry”, Malavika said, on one of our video chats. On one phone call days later, Richa advised “Don’t say that it’s a…

I was woozily sitting on the perimeter of the general store amid the peak of Bhagoria Fest, with a DSLR in my hand, waiting to come across an appealing face…

If you are in the company of someone who has an affinity towards seafood and notice them deboning a fish without a hitch, no matter how thorny it is; or…

On a mid-January Monday in the early 70s, a barely 10 year old Kailash, with her friends walked into a neighbour’s house. Prancing about the gullies of Tilak Nagar (Delhi),…

I first saw Fouzia perform ‘dastangoi’ (an Urdu artform of immersive storytelling) many moons ago in Delhi. In a lot of her work, she often draws upon sensory memories from…

Even at 6:30 am on a December morning, there isn’t one specific smell, sound, voice or vibe that I can ascribe to Shahjahanabad (known as Old Delhi or Purani Dilli…

The path was less than two feet wide. Jagged, shifty, discouraging. On one side were the forbidding hills; densely covered in trees, giant cobwebs and thorny bushes. On the other,…

Earlier considered the common man’s food, now a delicacy, Zhunka Bhaakar (or Pithla Bhakri) is synonymous with everyday Maharashtrian food. What does someone born and brought up in Madhya Pradesh…

Chota Imambargah or Imambargah Hussain Mubarak is a popular tourist destination in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, but serves a more significant role in the history of Lucknow’s Muharram traditions. Locals say…

Our notion that only the edible can qualify as an ingredient is an effect of insufficient imagination. Peter Fernandes was awaiting us at the big black iron gate that opened…

Cumin (jeera) seeds start to crackle in hot oil and the journey begins. The path from seeds to sauce is one that hasn’t always translated to the western palate. Often…

Winter time in Mumbai means a lot of nice things (think green garlic, papdi, good spinach, etc.), it also means the skin and the hair start to dry out in an…

We drove through the town of Madikeri looking for a meal. It was a little over 2 pm and we were desperate for substantial lunch. Looking around, we found a…

I still remember the first visit, a few years ago. It was a sweltry afternoon. We had been walking around town since morning. A dangerous combination of hunger, heat and…