In numerous kitchens, food has borne the brunt, symbolized the condition of human desires, sorrows, and predicaments, and gone on to become a mesmerizing storyteller. The process of carrot halwa preparation is transformed into a narrative on poverty, dejection, powerlessness, greed, resistance, and much more. I happened to study Mahesh Dattani’s Thirty Days in September, a play on child incest and its scarred victims. In the gendered world, food and women were synonymously flung into fires of domesticity and drudgery till they simmered, boiled, and became unidentifiable masses of suffering. So may I eat the humble pie and admit that the table fare is not merely our bread and butter?

Source: The Hindu February 03, 2024 20:30 UTC