Kitchen publics: 'Indian delights', gender and culinary diaspora

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Periodical article

Title:	Kitchen publics: 'Indian delights', gender and culinary diaspora
Author:	Waetjen, Thembisa
Year:	2009
Periodical:	South African Historical Journal
Volume:	61
Issue:	3
Pages:	575-593
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	food preparation Indians women's organizations publishing
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582470903189782
Abstract:	This article examines the compilation, publication and international marketing of the best-selling cookbook, 'Indian Delights', by the Women's Cultural Group of Durban, South Africa, a mostly Muslim, women's philanthropic association. On the market from 1961, and with subsequent editions and new recipes reflecting ongoing changes in family roles and culinary technologies, the history of this text reveals how gendered spaces and identities have shaped transoceanic print cultures in the formation of diasporic identity. With hundreds of thousands of copies sold, 'Indian Delights' has become both a household reference for Indian cultural authenticity as well as a reflection of changes in cultural meanings, locally and globally. The article also demonstrates how the production of this successful literary work secured a public role and presence for its creators, self-described 'housewives' whose community-service work and reputation has endured for more than half a century. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]