Switch Language
Follow the Flavour:
This short video showcases the preparation of one of the many Punjabi dishes I consume on a regular basis, daal and roti. This video is my representation to reappropriate the notions of Indian/Punjabi food being smelly, disgusting and odd in visual appearance, to a beautiful aspect in which immigrant and first-generation families continue to carry and consume.
This video is not to cater to white folks, academics or scholars, but, to ( first-generation) Punjabi's who feel they have a disconnect between themselves and their cultural food, in which layers their identities.
MY
SMELLY FOOD
Yes, my food smells but, that does not have to mean its gross or disgusting rather, filled with the cultivated flavours of Punjab.
.png)
.png){kind=small}
.png)
.png)
.png){kind=small}
.png)
.png){kind=small}
.png)
Smell is such a large distinction to someone's self and their identity. I chose to name this short " My Smelly Food" because I wanted to take the negative connotation of the word smelly and give it a just and apt meaning. Yes, my food smells but, that does not have to mean its gross or disgusting rather, filled with the cultivated flavours of Punjab.
Racialized shame that immigrants and first- generation folks feel about being stereotyped and boxed into their cultural eating habits.
Racialized shame that immigrants and first- generation folks feel about being stereotyped and boxed into their cultural eating habits.
Homebound
In Punjab my family comes from a heritage of farming and cultivating land in order to sustain an entire families livelihood.
MY
"Lunch
Box"
Moment
Inspiration for this page:
The following attached PDF below is a project I worked on in an Asian Diaspora class ( ENGL 346R) and the migration of a single dish from North India (and in specific Punjab), which in this case was a Samosa. The inspiration in which I drew from this project is the cultural impact this food has within the Greater Toronto Area and specifically within Peel Region. Creating businesses built on these dishes contributes to the narratives of Immigrant and first-generation Punjabi- Canadians.
The following video is a group of first-generation Asian-Americans whom talk about their " lunch-box moment". ( I found it interesting that I, and many individuals in this video all had a sense of recognition to this term without ever hearing it before). A moment in which I could relate to growing up as well, where I would be ashamed or bullied for bringing in my Indian food for lunch. (I found it often times concerning because I would also get ridiculed by first- generation Punjabi kids as well.In my perspective, this has to do with internalized racism about our own community, while growing up in Canada. ( this concept can also be framed in not speaking Punjabi back to our parents in public settings, or wearing cultural clothing because there was a yearn to assimilate rather than feel othered.