Maitrey Singh - Week 9
Weekly Summary
Week 9
Food
The article sheds light on the hierarchical caste system of India. The author sheds light
on the caste demarcation by using the food they eat as the centrepiece. Food is a boiled down outcome of many societal factors in India, the arguments is initially enforced by describing the life of one Kanta Prasad, a Dalit from Uttar Pradesh. The author called the chaos in his life an everyday affair as he was a Dalit and consequently poor and hungry. Prasad’s family used to go to nearby meat markets to collect the blood and other parts of the animals which were not appreciated by the upper castes of the slaughtered animals and then boil the blood, add salt and chilli powder, and some onions. This is a famous dish amongst the Dalits even today known as Rakti.
The above is only one such example which demarcates the caste hierarchy in our society
in the realm of food. B.R. Ambedkar also talked about different castes and their culinary
choices as those who do not eat meat at the top, those who do except beef in the middle and the others who eat beef alike Dalits, at the bottom. The culinary demarcation as I said
describes multiple things. The economic situations of the Dalit’s as well as their social
acceptance. Gopal Guru says that the food was used as a tool of humiliation for Dalits and
the practice did not wash off out of the society till today and now it has became organised
with the help of “watertight compartmentalisation of India into different castes.” The power
dynamics are enforced with the help of edible resources in India, Gopal Guru further said.
Dalits are very well aware of the suppression, more now than before. They accept the
the fact they are made to work day and night and shed their blood and sweat for upper caste and at the end of the day what they get is their “Jhootan”.
Week 9
Food
The article sheds light on the hierarchical caste system of India. The author sheds light
on the caste demarcation by using the food they eat as the centrepiece. Food is a boiled down outcome of many societal factors in India, the arguments is initially enforced by describing the life of one Kanta Prasad, a Dalit from Uttar Pradesh. The author called the chaos in his life an everyday affair as he was a Dalit and consequently poor and hungry. Prasad’s family used to go to nearby meat markets to collect the blood and other parts of the animals which were not appreciated by the upper castes of the slaughtered animals and then boil the blood, add salt and chilli powder, and some onions. This is a famous dish amongst the Dalits even today known as Rakti.
The above is only one such example which demarcates the caste hierarchy in our society
in the realm of food. B.R. Ambedkar also talked about different castes and their culinary
choices as those who do not eat meat at the top, those who do except beef in the middle and the others who eat beef alike Dalits, at the bottom. The culinary demarcation as I said
describes multiple things. The economic situations of the Dalit’s as well as their social
acceptance. Gopal Guru says that the food was used as a tool of humiliation for Dalits and
the practice did not wash off out of the society till today and now it has became organised
with the help of “watertight compartmentalisation of India into different castes.” The power
dynamics are enforced with the help of edible resources in India, Gopal Guru further said.
Dalits are very well aware of the suppression, more now than before. They accept the
the fact they are made to work day and night and shed their blood and sweat for upper caste and at the end of the day what they get is their “Jhootan”.
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