Indo-American anthropologist, Arjun Appadurai’s seminal essay, “How to Make a National Cuisine: Cookbooks in Contemporary India,” provides a crucial theoretical framework for understanding how culinary narratives shape national identity. His insights on the textualization of cuisine, the role of cookbooks in cultural standardization, and the symbolic dimensions of food intersect with Arup K. Chatterjee’s notion of gastromythology, a concept that examines how culinary myths create, sustain, and manipulate cultural identities.

Appadurai argues that cookbooks function as instruments of cultural unification and social hierarchy, influencing the way food is perceived and consumed (1988, p. 3). This aligns with gastromythology’s assertion that food is not merely sustenance but a semiotic system—a mode of communication that shapes national consciousness (Chatterjee, 2022, p. 53). In both frameworks, food operates as a cultural text, embedding historical narratives and power dynamics within its very composition.

A key aspect of Appadurai’s argument is that the idea of an “Indian” cuisine is a modern construct, emerging not despite, but because of, the articulation of regional and ethnic cuisines (1988, p. 22). He notes that in postcolonial India, cookbooks have played a significant role in forging a national culinary canon, yet this process is fraught with exclusions—certain regional traditions gain prominence while others are marginalized (1988, p. 18). This is evident in gastromythology, where English tea culture was systematically crafted through advertising, repressing its colonial origins while elevating it as a quintessentially British tradition (Chatterjee, 2022, p. 55).

Both theories emphasize how historical transformations influence culinary perceptions. Appadurai points out that while food taboos and social hierarchies once dictated culinary boundaries, urbanization and globalization have led to the circulation of recipes and tastes across these lines (1988, p. 7). This process, he suggests, allows food to move where people may not—a key element of gastromythology as well, wherein colonial powers used advertisements to transport mythologized versions of food cultures across global markets (Chatterjee, 2022, p. 77).

Another striking parallel lies in the role of gender in culinary discourse. Appadurai emphasizes that cookbooks in India have historically targeted urban middle-class women, shaping their role as both the preservers and modernizers of cuisine (1988, p. 10). Similarly, gastromythology reveals that Victorian advertising often gendered tea culture, presenting women as both the ideal consumers and enforcers of tea-drinking rituals (Chatterjee, 2022, p. 50).

Ultimately, Appadurai’s work helps to situate gastromythology within broader anthropological and postcolonial discourses on food. Both theories highlight the ways in which food myths are not neutral but serve political, economic, and ideological functions—shaping what is consumed, who consumes it, and how it is remembered.

Bibliography

• Appadurai, A. (1988). How to Make a National Cuisine: Cookbooks in Contemporary India. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 30(1), 3-24. Cambridge University Press.
• Chatterjee, A. K. (2022). The Gastromythology of English Tea Culture: On the UKTC’s Advertisements and Making Tea a “Fact” of English Life. Canadian Journal of History, 57(1), 47-80.