This New Book Tells Stories Of India’s 11 Most Iconic Dishes

What makes a dish iconic? Is it the richness of its ingredients, the depth of its history, or the stories that simmer alongside it? In An Invitation to Feast: A Deep Dive into India’s Culinary Treasures, journalist and former editor Sona Bahadur travels across the country to explore these questions. 

Spanning six years of immersive research and over 120 interviews, this book unpacks the legacies of 11 emblematic dishes. As she gears up for her book release, ELLE Gourmet had a chat with the author, where she reflected on her journey and the emotional and surprising moments that shaped the book.

 

ELLE Gourmet: What was the most surprising and emotional story you encountered while tracing the journey of a dish?

Sona Bahadur (SB): Culinary surprises abound in India. For instance, I wasn't aware that the creation of the Banglar rosogolla happened in two stages. Its inventor, Nobin Chandra Das, first took fragmented clumps of boiled chhena, mashed them, added raisins, pistachios and saffron, and shaped them into balls to make a sweetmeat called baikuntha bhog in 1866. It was in the second part of his experiment two years later that he refined the art of boiling chhena balls in sugar syrup in a way that prevented them from disintegrating, ultimately resulting in the creation of rosogollas.  

ELLE Gourmet: How did you decide on which 11 dishes to feature, especially since Indian cuisine is so vast and diverse?

SB: We have a staggering range of dishes in India. It is impossible to do justice to this diversity in a single effort. An Invitation to Feast is a book of narrative food writing with long chapters, so it was not viable to include food from every state or region. When selecting the lineup, I ensured that it included dishes from the north, south, east, and west. 

A balance had to be struck between global blockbusters like butter chicken, dosa, and biryani as well as regional gems like undhiyu and Goan fish curry, which deserve to figure more prominently in India’s culinary iconography. There are so many wonderful dishes I couldn’t include, rogan josh, dal baati churma, laal maas, payasam, shukto and a gazillion others.

 

ELLE Gourmet: You speak of living history rather than origin stories. Can you share an example of how a dish evolved through migration, innovation, or personal interpretation?

SB: Chhole, biryani, and dhansak are all examples of dishes that have evolved as a result of migration, trade or invasions. From an evolutionary standpoint, every dish is a work in progress. Food offers a limitless playground for innovation and personal interpretation.

Thanks to globalisation, trendy reboots of familiar foods are everywhere, and iterations like butter chicken kulcha, baked rosogolla and baked vada pav are already classics in the making. Climate change is playing a crucial role in shaping the future of our dishes. Each of us can make more sustainable food choices. For instance, choosing fish curries that feature smaller local fish is more environmentally friendly. In Goa, I tried soi-mirem, a Catholic-style curry made using tongue sole fish. It tasted fantastic.

 

ELLE Gourmet: What role do you think the Indian diaspora has played in shaping global perceptions of Indian food? And how is that reflected in your book?

SB: The diaspora has played a pivotal role in showcasing India’s culinary treasures overseas, and dispelling the stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding Indian food, from revered food writers to Michelin-starred chefs like Vikas Khanna, Vijay Kumar and Himanshu Saini. 

The research for my book was confined to meeting culinary experts within India. However, for the vada pav chapter, I interviewed Sujay Sohani, the co-owner of the London-based chain Shree Krishna Vada Pav (SKVP). Sujay was passionate about expanding the global perception of Indian food beyond butter chicken and naan. He was convinced that vada pav would be the next Indian food to capture the world’s imagination and that being true to its Maharashtrian roots would make the street food a global hit.

ELLE Gourmet: This book is part travelogue, part memoir, and part culinary history. How did you find the right balance between research and storytelling to keep the narrative both informative and intimate?

SB: I struggle with finding this balance all the time. It is at the heart of my creative process as a writer. Research powers good storytelling. However, the two often pull in different directions. There is an inherent tension between them. If one were to invoke a culinary analogy, research could be likened to quality ingredients and storytelling to a skilful recipe. You need both to whip up the perfect dish. Apropos this book, finding a central theme or a compelling hook for each dish and knitting my story around it enabled me to streamline my research.

 

ELLE Gourmet: What role does memory—personal or collective—play in the way we cook, eat and preserve recipes, especially in a country as emotionally invested in food as India?

SB: Dishes are portals of time travel. That’s because there is a direct pathway between our sense of smell and taste, and the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for forming and retrieving memories. Nostalgia is often a key ingredient in our recipes. Take, for instance, a dish like undhiyu, which is more ritual than food. The calorific winter treat is synonymous with the harvest festival of Makar Sankranti and emphasises the importance of community through cooking and eating.

Neha Shah, a Gujarati home chef from the Kutchi Visa Oswal community, recalled how she and all her cousin sisters would get together a day before Makar Sankranti to make the labour-intensive dish, so they could revel in kite flying and feasting the next day. Washing, peeling, and chopping so many vegetables, stringing the beans, and making the undhiyu masala would take hours of toil, but the joy of cooking together would imbue even these mundane tasks with richness. Today, making undhiyu is Neha’s way of reliving these precious childhood memories. 

 

ELLE Gourmet: On a lighter note, what’s the most unusual ingredient or technique you encountered during your research?

SB: From Surti papdi and kothu (wood apple) in Gujarat, to axone (fermented soybeans) and majenga (Zanthoxylum) in the northeast, I was blown away by the barrage of brilliant produce I discovered. I was also intrigued by how differently regions and communities interpret the same ingredients.

For instance, the use of khushbu ke masale like meetha attar (an essential oil used in Awadhi dishes) and kewra (screwpine essence) is highly prized by Lucknowites, who love to layer their dishes with aromas with flavours. But Rampuri cooks don’t care at all for these aromatics and dismiss them as fluff. I found that interesting as well as amusing.

ELLE Gourmet: If you could summarise this book in three words, what would they be?

SB: Immersive. Lively. Nuanced.

You can pre-order your hardcover copy of An Invitation to Feast: A Deep Dive into India’s Culinary Treasures here, and the Kindle version here.