‘When We Eat-Out’: Women, Desires and Public Spaces of Food Consumption

Abstract

Whenever the relationship between women and food is evoked, especially in a South Asian context, the popular imagery is that of the ‘motherly’ women who cooks and feeds her family within the domestic sphere of the household. She is an embodiment of sacrifice and thus perceived as more of a food provider than a consumer. However, contrary to this popular imagery, this article looks at women as consumers of food, more specifically women who desire food and the various constraints she faces while fulfilling them. It attempts to understand why and how do women fulfil or do not fulfil their desires related to food at public spaces of food consumption and what kind of broader understanding of ‘desire’ related to food by women can we derive from a South Asian context.