BREAKING BREAD

Nandita Haksar is a human-rights lawyer, teacher and campaigner. She is also a prolific writer. Her latest book ‘The Flavours of Nationalism: Recipes for Love, Hate and Friendship’ is not a traditional food memoir that limits itself to discussions on dishes and cuisines. Instead, it also dwells on food and its association with politics and prejudices, a theme of significant relevance in modern times.

Daughter of the diplomat PN Haksar, she had the good fortune of living in various countries, which familiarised her with international cuisines. That she has also travelled widely across India has enhanced the range of her culinary descriptions manifold.

Born into a Kashmiri Brahmin family, in childhood, the author’s mother taught her eating etiquette. She was advised not to eat with her left hand, and also to ‘make sure no more than the tip of fingers are used to make a luqma (a mouthful) and then put it into the mouth with the aid of the thumb….” She adds, “Amma did not realise that much of this etiquette was based on caste rules of purity and pollution.” The author makes such insightful observations in different contexts and situations, which makes the book immensely readable.

How to eat and who to share the dining table with are questions that tradition has sought to answer for us. The author refers to Mahatma Gandhi’s 1920 statement that Hinduism discourages inter-dining and inter-marriages. Gandhi would share a different point of view in November 1932, when he wrote that such restrictions had “…crept into Hinduism when perhaps it was in its decline.” Decades have gone by and technological advancements have changed society. Yet, sadly, certain sections of our society continue to avoid inter-