Bad Table Manners Whetstone Radio

In September 2020, the government of India approved a series of agricultural acts, often referred to as the “Farm Bills.” What was proposed threatened to change the state of agriculture in India forever, and thus, inspired a long farmers' protest that is only just coming to a conclusion (thanks to a recent announcement that confirms the laws have been repealed). This episode tracks my journey to Tikri border — located on the capital’s suburbs — where thousands of farmers lived as they protested the effects of neoliberalism on Indigenous agricultural systems. Cooking with the community and feeding everyone who came to the site (including the police!) was one crucial way in which solidarity was cemented. My guide, and the guest of this show, is the inspirational activist Navkrian Natt, who along with thousands of farmers, resisted injustice with all her heart.
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.

Thanks to the cool-ification of Indian food, traditional ingredients from the subcontinent, like turmeric and ghee, are now repackaged and resold in Western and Westernized markets as if they were “new” discoveries. Cleaned up, minimalistic design labels are often employed to give the familiar and unfamiliar look, and conceal what one can argue is a recolonization of the Global South by the Global North. The U.S.-based academic Rumya Putcha tells us why this hipster Indian food is problematic, while Vidya Balachander, current South Asia editor at Whetstone, helps us unpack the idea of the global supermarket.
Topics covered in this episode:

Min 1:40: Meet Rumya Putcha
Min 2:08: Meet Vidya Balachander
Min 3:29: The root of the frustration
Min 7:24: Logic of “cool-ification”
Min 9:42: Marketing Otherness
Min 11:00: Wellness as a form of travel
Min 15:56: Displays of diversity in supermarkets
Min 18:53: Aesthetics of Otherness
Min 21:47: Going beyond outrage
Min 25:38: Question of authenticity
Min 28:03: No easy answer

Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Rumya Putcha (@snailmobile821), Vidya Balachander (@vidya83)

Beginning with a brief history of Tibetans in exile, this episode explores how food can create imaginary homelands, even if it means that authenticity itself needs to be invented and reinvented. Three Tibetans in the diaspora, Jamyang Phuntsok, Tencho Gyatso, and Nima Dorjee, are the guests on this episode. Through conversations that range from personal histories to current food interests, we will talk about gastronomy and memory, tsampa as a potential political tool, and what role food can play for a community in exile.
Topics covered in this episode:

Min 0:00: The idea of home as connected to food
Min 1:42: Meet Jamyang Phuntsok
Min 1:58: Meet Tencho Gyatso
Min 2:40: Meet Nima Dorjee
Min 4:34: An overview of Tibetan food in India
Min 6:30: The popularization and adaptation of momos
Min 10:09: Politics of tsampa
Min 16:32: On authenticity in the context of exile
Min 21:05: Chinese influence in Tibetan food
Min 23:01: Food and solidarity

Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Jamyang Phuntsok (@jongtrukh), Tencho Gyatso (@simplytibetan), Nima Dorjee
Ethereal Relaxation by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/8719-ethereal-relaxation
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

In 1947, the British finally left India after 300 years of colonial rule. They created many arbitrary borders as they left, the most prominent of which was the line that was to separate India from Pakistan. The aftermath of this divide resulted in the greatest migration in human history, as millions made their way across hundreds of miles in the hope of creating new homes. The impact of this critical event is mirrored in what has become known as Delhi’s food culture, both at home and abroad. The well-known food historian Anoothi Vishal reminds us how partition lives on in India’s capital, while Jonathan Nunn, editor of the shape-shifting newsletter Vittles, shows us how the event created ripples in the imperial city of London. Partition transformed “Indian food,” in both colony and empire, and still shows its effects in new Indian restaurants today.
Topics covered in this episode:

Min 0:00: What is Partition?
Min 1:35: Meet Meher’s grand-aunt, Jeeti Nani
Min 2:30: Meet Anoothi Vishal
Min 3:42: From Mughlai cuisine to a dominant Punjabi cuisine
Min 8:31: Jeeti Nani’s account of dining practices pre- and post-Partition
Min 12:17: Collapse of a feudal order
Min 15:14: Meet Jonathan Nunn
Min 16:25: Ripple effects of Partition in London
Min 21:55: Complexities behind the modern British-Raj aesthetic
Min 27:19: Regional cuisines in London beyond Punjabi tandoori food

Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Anoothi Vishal (@anoothivishal), Jonathan Nunn (@jonathandnunn)

The Mid-Day Meal feeds millions of schoolgoing Indian children daily, and has widely been considered one of India’s most successful welfare programs. Two economists who have been instrumental in its success, Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera, will uncover the history of this program, but also remind us that because what's on plates is always political, the future of welfare too, is uncertain. A focused discussion on the contentious introduction of the egg in the meal will, in particular, reveal how sometimes, unfortunately, political interests can trump the basic human right to food and nutrition.
Topics covered in this episode:

Min 0:00: What is the Mid-Day Meal?
Min 1:50: Meet Jean Drèze
Min 2:14: Benefits of the Mid-Day Meal
Min 6:04: Criticisms of the program
Min 7:00: Meet Reetika Khera
Min 10:31: A strong case for the inclusion of eggs
Min 12:51: The politics behind the egg
Min 17:52: Why eggs over other sources of protein
Min 24:11: Lobbying attempts by the biscuit industry
Min 26:48: What Mid-Day Meal looks like today

Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Jean Drèze, Reetika Khera

This episode flips the script on caste and food by celebrating and exploring the food practices of caste oppressed communities. Is there such a thing as “Dalit cuisine?” Do Dalit chefs and food enthusiasts accept this term? What are Dalit recipes, and how have they been archived and reproduced? Can food be a site of caste abolitionism? The two guests on this episode – Vinay Kumar and Rajyashri Goody – who self-identify as Dalit, offer their own personal reflections on food and food politics.
Topics covered in this episode:

Min 0:48: The caste system in India
Min 3:38: Meet Vinay Kumar
Min 4:10: Meet Rajyashri Goody
Min 7:37: Caste and food
Min 10:14: Is there such thing as standalone Dalit cuisine?
Min 12:32: Access to food (and lack thereof)
Min 14:49: Where there are no butchers, there are cinnamon buns
Min 19:56: When elite words are applied to Dalit food
Min 25:49: The complexities behind the idea of a Dalit cookbook
Min 27:43: Limitations to a “recipe”
Min 31:19: Balancing moments of joy and struggle
Min 35:15: Food as protest and resistance

Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Vinay Kumar (@thevinaygreen), Rajyashri Goody (@rajgoody)