Paper Short Abstract:

Dalits (erstwhile "untouchables") are the most deprived and marginalised social group in India. There is an acute lack of anthropological literature on the 'food' of Dalits. This gap is often gauged by personal narratives based on memories. I propose to present the ground realities.

Paper Abstract:

Dalits (erstwhile "untouchables" Indian caste system) are the most deprived and marginalised social group in India. There is an acute lack of anthropological literature on the 'food' of Dalits. This gap is often gauged by personal narratives based on memories, for instance, autobiographical and autoethnographic writings of Dalits. In my doctoral research project, I endeavoured to study what Dalits are actually eating in the 'absence' of hunger, as food is available in the society, contrary to what we read in the newspapers about the deaths due to hunger in different parts of the Indian subcontinent; and in the 'presence' of food which may not fit best in the definition of 'healthy and appropriate' food. In this ethnographic and quantitative account of Dalit food cultures based on the fieldwork I pursued in the district of the northern state of India, I wish to present how Dalits are managing to content their bellies, nourish their bodies and satiate their souls in the contemporary cultural (values and belief system), economic (lack of proper work, poverty, agriculture and public distribution system) and political scenarios (politics of religion and sanitation); their everyday lives, work and struggle to dig 'food' out of 'waste' as 'waste' for some is food for many.