Forbidden Cravings: Exploring socio-cultural ramifications of food practices in Aamis

Abstract

Food choices represent conscious affirmation and expression of personal, group, ethnic or national identity. Due to its multidimensional role, food that we rely on sustenance is often politicised and used as a tool to create conflict amongst and within diverse social groups. Assamese cuisine includes a rich platter of authentic food varieties, often limited to the north-eastern region. Although food consumption is a subjective experience, cultural taboos within a community might be acceptable practices in another culture, creating conflicting notions of food practices. The balance between the twin axis of culture and politics regarding food is disrupted when heterogeneous cultural patterns and opposing political notions are in discord. Similarly, the solidarity within a cultural group becomes hostile when the authority of the individual concerning food choices is not aligned with the authority of the social structure. This discord from a political and cultural standpoint is evident in the Assamese socio-cultural scenario. Taking Bhaskar Hazarika’s Ravening/Aamis (2019) as a case study, this paper proposes to analyse the representational troupe of food, through a structuralist anthropological lens, with respect to food politics to understand socio-cultural ramifications of Assamese food patterns.