Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how culinary practices in Dholavira reflect & reinforce intersectional hierarchies of caste, class, gender, and environment among Meghwal, Koli, & Thakar communities. It explores food's role in shaping identity, memory, and social stratifications amid historical transformations.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation will explore the intersectional hierarchies embedded within the culinary practices of Dholavira, a village in the Kutch region of Gujarat, India. Focusing on three communities—Meghwal, Koli, and Thakar—we investigate how food practices not only reflect caste, class, gender, and environmental factors but also serve as a means of preserving cultural identities in the face of social and historical transformations. Drawing on theories of food as identity (Appadurai 1981; Nandy 2004) and the concept of "culinary landscapes" (Aldrich 1966; Gold 2002), the study highlights the complex interplay between food, memory, and hierarchy.

Through a combination of participant observation, culinary documentation, and interviews the paper addresses the role of food practices in reinforcing social stratifications, such as the Meghwal community's transition from non-vegetarianism to vegetarianism as a marker of caste purity and upward mobility, the Koli community's meat-centred cuisine as a challenge to gender norms, and the Thakar community’s adherence to strict vegetarianism as a cultural and political statement. Additionally, the research draws on Blunt’s (2003) idea of kitchen spaces as sites for memory-making and Sutton’s (2008) concept of community meals to explore the ways in which food traditions carry layers of historical, social, and emotional significance, shaping and preserving collective identities through food.

It concludes by demonstrating that food is not just a material practice, but also an embodied, lived experience shaped by subtle forms of oppression that intersect with broader socio-cultural, political, and environmental dynamics.