Food unites and divides, says food critic

Touching upon the political hot potato that food has lately become, food critic, historian and writer Pushpesh Pant, at the third edition of History Literature Fest being held at Christ University, Bengaluru, observed that food not only unites, but also divides.  

Touching upon the political hot potato that food has lately become, food critic, historian and writer Pushpesh Pant, at the third edition of History Literature Fest being held at Christ University, Bengaluru, observed that food not only unites, but also divides.  

He was referring to clash that erupted between students in South Asian University in Delhi over serving non-vegetarian food on Maha Shivaratri day.  

“I was very upset about a news item which I read on the plane as I was travelling to Bengaluru. There was a fracas in South Asian University because non-vegetarian food was served in an exclusive separate mess on the day of Maha Shivarathri which hurt the feelings of people who then assaulted people in the other mess. I think the problem with food is that it not only unites but it also divides,” he said. 

Mr. Pant was speaking as part of a panel at HLF in which food historian Rakesh Raghunathan and chef and food writer Sadaf Hussain participated. 

Answering a question from the audience on the impact of religion on food, Mr. Raghunathan noted how historical records prove the way societies with different food habits co-existed earlier.  

“If you look at some of the ancient records, scriptures or ancient literature, they talk about how several communities that today don’t eat meat, at one point of time, consumed it. In today’s context, a whole division has been created where they talk about how the cow is very sacred and cannot be consumed, but there are references in the past where it has been and there are several reasons for why they did that,” he pointed out. 

“Yes, food is used as a tool today to divide people; But I think there are many people in the industry and people who have been researching and telling the story of food in such a way where we are trying to say that food can only bring people together and not divide,” he added.