Asian Studies Cookbook Analysis

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Neha Raheja ANS 379 September 17, 2012 Cookbook Analysis Indian Cookery by Savitri Chowdhary, A. Deutsch: 1954 The Bombay Palace Cookbook by Stendahl, Dodd and Mead: 1985 “How to Make a National Cuisine: Cookbooks in Contemporary India” by Arjun Appadurai, Cambridge University Press: 1988 At surface, cookbooks seem to contain sets of instructions and lists of ingredients that make up an assortment of recipes, but there is more that we can learn from these books other than the art of how to prepare various types of dishes. If we take into serious consideration the author, his or her language, and the time and context of publishing, cookbooks can tell us a lot about notions of authenticity, cultural stereotypes, and culinary nationalism. In this paper, I seek to compare two Indian cookbooks, Indian Cooking by Savitri Chowdhary and The Bombay Palace Cookbook by Stendahl. The former was published in 1954, making it one of the earliest Indian cookery books, and the latter was published in 1985. Both cookbooks claim to contain recipes for creating authentic Indian (mostly Mughlai and Punjabi) dishes that are adapted for the more “modern” and Western kitchen. My paper begins with brief overviews of each cookbook and continues with analysis of their respective content and stylistic forms. Originally a high-school teacher in Punjab, Savitri Chowdhary arrived in Britain in 1932 to join her husband who was already settled there as a doctor. Upon arrival, she noticed that her husband had assimilated quite well into the English culture and lifestyle, and he urged her to do the same. Although she shed her saris for dresses and cut her hair short, she never gave up her desire to and interest in cooking traditional Punjabi food. Publishing a traditional cookbook for a “modern” audience might have been a way for her to hold onto her old culture, while embracing a new

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