Feeding the Gods : Memories of Food and Culture in Bengal

by Chitrita Banerji

• ISBN13: 9781905422104
• ISBN10: 1905422105
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2006-08-22
• Publisher: Seagull Books

Summary

As the pungent fragrance of spices transports the author back into memories of childhood, we too are plunged headlong into the rich tastes, textures and colours of food in her native Bengal. Here, food is a ritualised and intrinsic part of the culture, particularly of the culture of women's lives. Beyond the meals prepared and cooked for everyday life, food offerings blessed by the gods are shared by devotees in daily ceremonies of worship, special dishes are cooked on auspicious days, and ritual ways of preparing foods are carefully mastered. Feeding the Gods paints an extraordinary picture of food and ritual in Bengal. These complex rituals reveal not only an astonishingly rich culinary culture but also a social structure in which certain foods are forbidden. Combining social critique with the intimacy of memoir, Banerji writes of growing up from girlhood to womanhood in Bengal, a land where food and ritual are intimate experiences which shape day-to-day life.

Author Biography

Chitrita Banerji is author of Life and Food in Bengal (London, 1991; Delhi 2005), and Bengali Cooking: Seasons and Festivals (London, 1997), as well as of numerous articles in The Boston Globe, Granta (London), Gastronomica (Berkeley), The Phoenix (Boston), Boston Magazine, Calyx (Corvallis, Oreg.), and Petits Propos Culinaires (London). She has presented papers and received awards at the prestigious Oxford Food Symposium.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
The Hour of the Goddess	3	(12)
Feeding the Gods	15	(20)
Powder and Paste	35	(12)
A Dose of Bitters	47	(14)
Food and Difference	61	(12)
Crossing the Borders	73	(22)
The Bonti of Bengal	95	(14)
Five Little Seeds	109	(12)
What Bengali Widows Cannot Eat	121

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