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WHEN Charmaine O’Brien started researching and writing about India’s food (circa 1996) — until the publication of The Penguin Food Guide in 2013 — her focus was on the country’s traditional/enduring food cultures. The ringside view of more than two decades came in handy while researching for the author’s latest, Eating the Present, Tasting the Future: Exploring India through her Changing Food which charts the evolution of Indian food and food related trends in India’s culinary landscape.
The book is a magnum opus in terms of the topics it covers: from the rise of food delivery apps to wellness trends as well as supermarkets and superfoods. The idea for the book is mixed with other intertwined areas of the author’s interests: early Australian food history, British food history and 19th century English novels. Through this she was very familiar with the impact of the Industrial Revolution on transforming British society, including the creation of mass consumerism and urbanisation, all of which significantly transformed the food people ate and/or aspired to eat in Britain.
She explains, “What I saw taking place in India had all the hallmarks of an Industrial Revolution, although in this case the transforming technology was the computer and the internet, but other things were similar such as urbanisation and a growing consumer sector seeking to imitate and enjoy what had only been available to India’s wealthiest. I felt like I was watching history happen before my eyes and I wanted to document it.”
The scope of the book is vast and all encompassing. From the evolution of mithai to packaging, Charmaine covers many aspects of the food industry. “There is so much evolving with food in India (sic),” shares the author, “One of the most challenging chapters to write was on food apps/food delivery; that was a slippery fish to capture! Things were constantly changing in this industry as I was writing, especially during the pandemic.”
The author was conscious that she did not exoticise India. “I think it is largely because I do not see India through an ‘exotic’ lens. I think India is the most interesting country in the world, but having spent so much time here it does not necessarily feel ‘foreign’ to me.”
Lasting changes in food, as well as society, culture, individuals, happen in small increments over time and most of us do not notice these taking place. This is where the author’s gaze helps. Charmaine stays in her friend’s homes while on visits and as she is not of Indian heritage, she is able to notice changes both at the macro and micro level.
Changes in the culinary scene
Having visited the country for three decades, Charmaine says that these changes are many and varied. One is the development of what she calls ‘could be anywhere’ or globalised food culture. By this she means restaurants and cafes where the menu, ambience and decor are such that one could be in London, Sydney or Boston.
“This is also happening in food stores where you can buy any foreign ingredient. In the past when I was in India I would crave a good green salad, for example something composed of crisp ice-berg, salad leaves, parsley, celery, dill, with a good olive oil and mustard dressing and whole wheat/multigrain bread with a substantive crust (i.e., firm and chewy) but it was almost impossible to get these things in a restaurant or buy them in a food store. Now I can buy any of these vegetables and ingredients,” she notes.
The rise of regional food is another seminal change she has noticed over the years. In the ‘90s while she encountered apathy or general disinterest when she first started researching about India’s regional cuisines and food cultures, now she witnessed an explosion of interest in regional foods. “Indians are avidly researching, writing, blogging, vlogging and reeling about regional food, as well as enjoying it in high end restaurants and food events,” Charmaine says.
The author also maps the influence of so-called global wellness concepts and ‘healthism’ on shaping the food preferences of India’s wealthier citizens. “By this I mean labelling food with terms like ‘superfood’, along with making health claims for eating certain foods (for which there is usually no reliable evidence) for which people will pay more,” she explains. “Then there is gluten-free, dairy free, sugar free and keto. These are all global trends, none of the claims for the health properties of these ‘free of’ foods are supported by reliable evidence unless you are a coeliac or lactose intolerant.”
New cultural trends in an old country
The book is a result of many conversations with Indian chefs, restaurateurs, journalists, food writers and researchers, food producers, food media content producers, cookbook authors, food event creators, retailers and everyday cooks and consumers. It reflects in the granular detailing and hyper local topics.
Charmaine says, “Each time I have written a book about India’s food it has taken me to a deeper level of understanding not only about Indian cooking and eating but of the country itself, her history, her complexity.” The book also enabled the author to fulfill a long-held ambition to visit the Amul factory in Anand and the millet research institute in Hyderabad.
Ask her about her favourite food memory and she animatedly explains about the time she tried an ‘ice-cream sandwich’ at a night food market in Ahmedabad. She reminiscences, “It was made from soft white bread (crusts removed) spread with melted chocolate, a scoop of home-made chocolate ice-cream with then sandwiched between the bread slices along with a generous amount of grated Amul cheese, a little more cheese was grated over the closed sandwich, and a few small chocolate drops sprinkled over the top.”
Indian food has long been associated mostly with its women: grandmothers, mothers, wives, sisters, aunts and other female relations. Charmaine dedicates an entire chapter to this phenomenon and notes how times are changing. She observes, “More Indian women are taking up working, education, freely socialising outside the home – for example, the kitty parties that were once exclusively held in homes are now popularly held in outside eateries.”
As more convenience foods and services — food delivery for example — are being employed by women to produce family meals to save time (now that they have other things to do) the author feels that these changes will influence India’s food system. This is also one of the reasons Indian men are stepping into the kitchen to take up some of the slack.
Being careful not to ‘Indiasplain’ to an Indian audience, the book is an engaging read, one that documents the many changes in a diverse landscape and remains engrossing while even talking about packaging and discounts!
