7 Indian Food Writers Exploring Culture & Identity Through Culinary

From that extra spoon of sugar in your grandmother's kheer to the masalas that stained your mother's Tupperware yellow, Indian cuisine carries stories beyond taste. Each recipe holds history, memories, and deep meaning for the people who curated and cherished it. These elements form connections that span millennia of generations, becoming an integral part of identity and heritage.

Food Writers Exploring Identity In Culinary

Several writers and historians have turned culinary chroniclers, piecing together recipes, historical records, oral stories, and cultural expressions that bind communities and preserve tradition. Here are some such Indian writers who delve into the dialogue between food and its social importance.

Anahita Dhondy | Parsi Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family

Acclaimed chef Anahita Dhondy has documented cherished recipes and memories from her family's kitchen in Parsi Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family. Dedicated to the women in her family, the cookbook weaves together nostalgic stories, cultural insights, and traditional Parsi dishes. From the comforting fragrance of dhansak to the flavour bomb packed in patra ni machhi, each recipe evokes a communal familiarity and belonging. 

Tarana Husain Khan | Degh to Dastarkhwan: Qissas and Recipes from Rampur Cuisine

Tarana Husain Khan, winner of SheThePeople's Women Writers Award 2021 and many other honours, traces famed recipes of the erstwhile princely state of Rampur in Degh to Dastarkhwan: Qissas and Recipes from Rampur Cuisine. She was inspired to write this book when she came across a nineteenth-century Persian cookbook in Rampur's Raza Library. Thus started her journey to documenting oral histories, culture, and emotions among Rampuri people.

Shahu Patole | Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada: Anna He Apoorna Brahma.

Shahu Patole voices the narratives and lived experiences of Dalit communities in his powerful and deeply personal book, Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada (originally published in Marathi as Anna He Apoorna Brahma). He is the first ever to document Dalit food history through the culinary practices of two Maharashtrian communities--Mahar and Mang. Beyond recipes, the testimonies, memoirs, and historical reflections in the book highlight how food becomes a form of resistance and reclamation.

Archana Pidathala | Five Morsels of Love: Heirloom Recipes from a Traditional Andhra Kitchen

In Five Morsels of Love, Archana Pidathala records over 100 recipes from her grandmother, G Nirmala's Telugu cookbook Vanita Vanṭakālu. Pidathala recounts flavours, anecdotes, and the cultural evolution of these traditional Andhra recipes, from gun powder to tangy avalakki (flat rice). The book is an homage to the generations of women turning the kitchen into a haven of comfort and nostalgia. The book was shortlisted for the 2017 Art of Eating Prize.

Pritha Sen, food writer at Indian Express and more

Journalist and social entrepreneur Pritha Sen is a revered name in the food historians' circle of India. Her journey started over 25 years ago when she travelled to remote regions, especially in Bengal and Northeast India, for her social work. As part of earning the trust of local communities, she began conversing and working with women in kitchens and learning the evolution of recipes hidden from the mainstream dinner table. Her culinary revival journey has never stopped since. 

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Chitrita Banerji | Eating India; Life and Food in Bengal; and more

Chitrita Banerji is a renowned food historian, writer, and translator who specialises in Bengali cuisine. Her work navigates the roles of memory and personal connection in culinary tradition. In Life and Food in Bengal, she documents how food is so closely tied to Bengali culture, with even art, literature, and rituals drawing heavily from food. In Eating India, Banerji traces the evolution of India's cuisine through the lens of generations of invasions and assimilation.

Shoba Narayan | Food and Faith: A Pilgrim's Journey Through India, and more

In her unique book Food and Faith: A Pilgrim's Journey Through India, Shoba Narayan travels across some of the most prominent places of worship in India and presents to her readers the mythologies, histories and contemporary relevance of these sites through culinary. From the cloyingly sweet payasam served in Kerala's temples to tempting laddus in Tirupati, she illustrates how food becomes a sacred offering, community service, and cultural continuity.