Manisha's son was mocked for his cottage cheese lunch, called 'lower caste food,' and didn't eat all day.
This episode of The Food Chain examines how India's caste system shapes the food and lives of Dalit communities. Host Divina Gupta in Delhi speaks with Dalit women, a professor, a cookbook author, and a chef to explore a cuisine born from exclusion. The discussion centers on how caste-based discrimination dictates food access, creates culinary traditions, and persists even for those who migrate.
Sheela Balmiki, a 55-year-old cleaning lady from Uttar Pradesh, describes being forced to sit on the floor to eat and being barred from food-related work in her village. Manisha Valmiki, 36, explains her family eats chicken, mutton, and pork as part of religious traditions, but neighbors take offense and her children face bullying at school. Professor Shailaja Paik, a historian from a Dalit family, outlines the caste hierarchy where Dalits were historically assigned "polluting" jobs like handling carcasses and waste. The 2011 Indian census found one in six people belong to a scheduled caste, the government term for these disadvantaged groups.
Professor Paik details a food hierarchy where Brahmin vegetarianism is considered "pure," while meats like beef and pork are deemed "polluting" and associated with Dalits. Author Shahu Patole wrote "Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada" to preserve recipes like *rakti*, a dish made from animal blood, and dishes cooked without oil using animal fat due to poverty. Janvi Uppaleti, an Oxford PhD candidate, recalls secretly sun-drying beef at her grandmother's house and the shame that made her family conceal their consumption. Chef Sundar Mugri states he always declares his scheduled caste status on job applications and recalls shopkeepers in his village refusing to take money directly from his hand.
A notable moment is Manisha Valmiki chanting a tribute to B.R. Ambedkar, the Dalit architect of India's constitution which prohibits caste discrimination. Professor Paik recounts a colleague in the U.S. refusing food from her lunchbox, which she interprets as caste-based aversion. The episode reveals that some Indian states have laws restricting beef sales, directly impacting Dalit food sources. Gautam Kalyatanda of Mysore's Green Hotel describes customers in 2009 walking out upon learning Dalits worked in the kitchen, though he says this has since changed.
The tone is educational and narrative, weaving personal testimonies with academic analysis to document lived experience. The style is conversational and documentary, using field recordings and interviews to create an intimate portrait.
Listeners interested in social anthropology, food history, or contemporary Indian society would find this episode compelling. Those seeking light culinary content or recipes may find the focus on systemic discrimination and personal hardship too heavy.
