We're eating all the time

A couple of months ago I met my friend and fellow food writer Rituparna Roy in Mumbai. We were in the local train on our way to Churchgate when she told me about this new dosa joint that is making waves in the city and has opened a new outlet in Juhu. Ritu passed by the restaurant on her way to the station and noticed that it was packed with people queuing outside it, to eat dosa at 5 in the evening. “Seems like we’re eating all the time”, she said and I have been thinking about it since then.

It does seem like we’re eating all the time especially in cities. I see most restaurants, cafes and even street food stalls open and serving almost through the day, and they are also always packed. It isn’t a complain really. As an inhabitant of urban spaces I have often wondered, what do we have other than cafes and restaurants when we want to meet people - friends, dates or acquaintances. We’re always checking out a restaurant, a cafe or a new bar. Eating inadvertently becomes a part of our social life. There isn’t much else to do with people other than eating. Of course, we want to chat and so going for a movie or a theatre or an event is out of question, and we don’t catch-up with friends over a sketching session or browsing at a bookstore or a walk in the park - the last one almost always impossible because of the dire weather and air conditions.

As city people even when we travel - I have observed - we’re eating all the time. We don’t sit at a random spot on the road to gaze at the mountains. We find a cafe with a perfect view and then spend hours sitting there, looking at the said view while also eating or drinking. I found myself cafe hopping on my recent trip to Dharamkot. While at home I eat at specific times of the day, here I was eating at random hours. The cafes allowed me to spend long leisurely hours, but ordering something at regular intervals is part of that unspoken deal. Going by my Instagram timeline, everyone else is doing the same.

Again, not complaining. It is a great time for people in the food business and food media. There’s always something new to keep the eaters excited - a new restaurant, a new pop-up, a new vlog, a new podcast. This eating all the time gives us the space and scope to write and talk about eating.

It is exciting!

But, where are we drawing the boundary? Are we blurring the lines and eating even when food isn’t really a part of that specific moment or event?

During Ramzan this year fellow Lucknow girl and chef Taiyaba Ali shared an angsty story on Instagram about Iftar parties, over indulgence and community gatherings that the month-long festival is now associated with especially on social media. During the Hindu fasting festivals like Navratra, I am flooded with PR emails promoting their “fasting thalis”. The idea that these menus are meant for those abstaining puzzles me.

I understand that food is an essential part of almost all festivals; eating is an act of celebration, an expression of identity, and a way to create a sense of community. But, how far can we go with talking about food and eating in the context of a festival that’s meant for abstinence. Just a few days after Taiyaba’s story I saw a promotion of a food festival, “Ramzan Special Champagne Brunch” it said. I would’ve loved to be a part of the meeting where the decision to host this brunch was made. How far removed someone must be from people and their reality to come up with something like that.

Probably that’s where lies the problem. The sheer lack of context.

Maybe it’s time that, as we continue to eat, we also bring the context back into it; and sometimes if not always make meaning out of the simple act of eating.

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A little announcement

I have received the HWR (Himalayan Writing Retreat) Khozem Merchant Non-Fiction Fellowship for the writing project I am working on, which makes it a good time to announce that I am writing a book. More on it in due time but for now I will be busy researching for and writing the book. This space will be irregular as I promised it to be :)) but I will continue to write here.

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Reading Recommendations

Nothing gives me more joy than to see my favourite writers publish more and launch their own newsletter. This year has been great on that accord.

• I have admired Vidya Balachander and also learnt from her as a writer as well as an editor. I have been missing her writing and so it gives me much pleasure to see her start this newsletter. Go read her A Life on The Move

• In the same breath, another favourite writer-editor of mine Sharanya Deepak has a newsletter too. Her dispatches from Right Girl, Wrong Place will be nothing but delightful.

• My friend Ajay Varma has finally started publishing his poems on Winter Wurm. Go read, they’re beautiful.

• This essay by Sarah Duignan about her ugly kitchen tugged at my heartstrings.

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