Inside to Outside: India’s Food on the Move

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Charmaine O’Brien who researches and writes about the social and cultural history of food and eating. Internationally recognized for her work on Indian food history and culture, her books include The Penguin Food Guide to India, Recipes from an Urban Village and Flavours of Delhi and a forthcoming book on India’s changing foodways, Routes of Connection: Journeys through India’s contemporary foodscape

Chair: Rajesh Luthra

The talk will draw on Dr. O’Brien’s twenty-five years of experience researching and writing about India’s food and the transformation she witnessed in India’s foodways over that time, exploring how factors such as urbanisation, the changing role of women, globalisation and technology, have affected this change. The key theme of the talk will be the movement of food in India from its preparation and eating ‘inside’ the home to the increasing use of ‘outside’ food: pre-prepared convenience foods and meals, online food delivery, boom in cafes and restaurants, etc.