Food is one of the most important elements in our lives. For one thing, it is essential for our survival. However, food has also been recognized to be culturally important for a community. UNESCO has recognized food as an intangible cultural heritage which takes into account the overall knowledge regarding the recipe and preparations of the cuisines. This hints towards the potential of food in sustaining a cultural identity in this globalized world where cultural change is accelerated. It is in this respect that this study was undertaken to highlight how ‘food’ helps in constructing a distinct identity by focusing on the Bodos living in Delhi. Food, here, is seen as an agent that helps in the construction of ethnic and tribal identities in a multicultural space (Kikon, 2015).

The Bodo tribe is an ethno-linguistic tribe from Assam. During the 1990s, with the availability of opportunities for better economic growth and employment, many members of the Bodo tribes saw themselves migrating to Delhi. Soon, they found themselves settling in the city – almost permanently. Today, more than 200+ Bodo families have permanent residence in Delhi.

Over the years, Delhi has become a centre for migration. The migrants have brought along with them a suitcase full of their distinct cultures and beliefs. Because of the constant communication and exchange between these many diverse cultures, Delhi has been reputed to become a melting pot where the specificity of certain cultures is getting lost. In such a scenario, ‘things’ and ‘practices’ become a source that the migrants hold onto to mark their distinct cultural identity. Srinivas (2006) has talked about this kind of sentiment by stating, “the paradox to the cosmopolitan in an existing multicultural context is that as the local becomes less significant physically, the memory and the imagination of that place become stronger” (Srinivas, 2006). It is in this sense that food is utilised to form a sense of home outside of home. This is especially interesting because in the past the police of Delhi had released a handbook on ‘Security Tips for Northeast Students/Visitors in Delhi’ whereby certain food items like akhuni and bamboo shoot were advised to be “prepared without creating ruckus in the neighbourhood” (Kikon, 2015) notwithstanding the culturally relative right of the migrants to consume certain food items as “what is considered as stinky and associated as disgusting might be construed as pleasant and bestowed with a taste of home and culture or even sacredness” (Kikon, 2021).

The Bodos have their cuisine which is similar to the other communities from the state but strikingly differs from the members of mainland India. Some of the food items they consume regularly are pork meat, snails, and bamboo shoot which may appear as ‘polluting’ and ‘barbaric’ for the latter. Moreover, the Bodos have their own ways of preparing their cuisines such as during summers, they soak their leftover rice in water overnight. The next morning, the same is consumed by mixing salt, mustard oil, and onion with mashed potatoes. This is known as awkhwm gwzang and aloo seflenai. A paste of fermented fish, called napham, is also regularly consumed alongside their meals.

In terms of preparing their ‘authentic’ cuisines, the migrants often require access to certain food items which are not easily available in the city such as bamboo shoot (ouah mewai), snails (samu), crabs (khangkhrai), pork meat (oma bedor), ghost pepper (banlu khebjang), a special type of rice known as jou jou bidwi to prepare rice beer (jumai), etc. To access these, they primarily depend on their counterparts from the state who might be travelling to the city. In the absence of such an individual, they heavily rely on the market where these items can be availed – of which, not many exist in the city.

To cater to the demands of these specific ‘authentic’ food items, certain shops and markets in Delhi can be located. Some of them are the INA market and the regional shops at Vijaynagar and Safdarjung. Interestingly, being able to identify these market areas or regional shops brings to the attention the existence of ethnic clusters in certain localities of Delhi. These localities are home to a huge population of migrants from the North-eastern region of India and eventually give rise to a “North-East Map of Delhi” (McDuie-Ra 2012).

These markets play an active role in allowing the migrants to feed their ‘gastro-nostalgia’ (Appadurai 1981). In addition, these markets act as hubs of cultural exchange. Since most of the cuisines that Bodo consumes resemble that of other communities such as the Misings, Ahoms, and even the communities from other North-Eastern states and other Asian countries, these markets create a link in uniting these different communities together in the cosmopolitan city.

To conclude, ‘food’ is an ordinary agent actively working in marking a community distinct from others. Especially for the migrants in a cosmopolitan space like Delhi, certain food items, cuisines, and recipes help in the ‘identity’ formation away from the native home. This brings into life what Bailey (2016) had shared, “the use of spices, utensils, the memories of home, the family recipes reveal the norms, practices and cultural capital that migrants bring with them and utilise in everyday life…. [helps to] recreate a sense of home through cooking practices, material culture, memories and sensorial experiences” (Bailey, 2016).

The consumption of Bodo cuisine in Delhi soothes the yearning of the Bodo migrants for the ‘authentic’ Bodo cuisine fuelled by gastro-nostalgia and lets them re-create their distinct Bodo identity in Delhi where multiple cultures are merging every minute. The fulfilment of this desire creates a sense of “cultural utopia” (Srinivas, 2006) in the minds of the Bodo migrants away from home. The markets and regional shops in the city play an important role as a cultural hub, by providing the necessary items to the migrants and also by creating a link between similar communities. In this way, these markets not only let the members of the tribe sustain their distinct cultural identity but also connect them with other similar communities. It lets them add their distinct food item to the salad bowl.

References:

Appadurai, A. (1981). Gastro-politics in Hindu South Asia. American Ethnologist. 8(3): 494-511.

Bailey, A. (2016). The Migrant Suitcase: Food, Belonging and Commensality among Indian Migrants in the Netherlands. Appetite.110:51-60.

Kikon, D. (2015). Fermenting Modernity: Putting Akhuni on the Nation’s Table in India. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies.38(2):320 – 335.

Kikon, D. (2021). Bamboo Shoot in Our Blood: Fermenting Flavors and Identities in Northeast India. Current Anthropology, 62(24):S376 – S387.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2012). The ‘North-East’ Map Of Delhi. Economic and Political Weekly, 47(30), 69-77.

Srinivas, T. (2006). As Mother Made It: The Cosmopolitan Indian Family, ‘Authentic’ Food And The Construction of Cultural Utopia. International Journal of Sociology of Family (Autumn).32(2): 119-221.

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Pallavi Rabha is a post-graduate student at the Department of Cultural Studies, Tezpur University, Assam.