At the Odisha Literary Festival 2026, a panel titled Food Stories: What We Eat is Who We Are turned everyday dishes into gateways to migration, memory, identity and even centuries-old culinary surprises.
Food writer and founder of The House of Zaikanama, Aali Kumar began by pointing out how certain dishes instantly evoke places. Vada pav brings Mumbai to mind, butter chicken Delhi and pakhala Odisha.
But she argued that food tells a much deeper story. “We are also what we don’t eat,” she said, noting that food choices are shaped by family traditions, social practices, travel and inherited habits.
RAT curry....?
One of the most curious moments came when Aali Kumar referred to Manasollasa (also known as the Abhilashitartha Chintamani), an 11th-century text often described as one of India’s early works containing detailed recipes.
“It has a legit rat recipe in it — rat curry,” she said, using the example to show how dramatically tastes and food cultures can change over centuries.
“Our present palate as we understand it is probably just 300 years old,” Kumar added, arguing that every plate can carry traces of migration, displacement, imperialism and conflict.
For Meher Mirza, a food writer and author, food became a way to tell Mumbai’s history. She spoke about influences ranging from indigenous communities and the Portuguese to the British and later migrants.
She also highlighted lesser-known culinary figures such as Thangam Philip, who trained generations of chefs and helped shape India’s hospitality industry.
Maria Goretti, author and television host, brought the discussion back to personal memory. She recalled discovering food more deeply after having children and learning that behind everyday cooking lies precision.
“Food is a science,” she said. “A little bit more of this, a little less of that and your dish is never going to taste the same.”
She also spoke about how family recipes change subtly from home to home, even when the dish remains essentially the same.
The panel’s larger message was simple: food may look ordinary because we encounter it every day. Still, every recipe carries a story — of where people came from, what they inherited and how cultures changed along the way.