@sejalsukhadwala
London food writer. Author of The Philosophy Of Curry (British Library Publishing, 2022). Working on an Indian food dictionary for the past decade or so. I often write about Indian food history, culture and restaurants.
There’s so much of what I call ‘popular food history’ absolutely everywhere, from some restaurant menus to Instagram. It’s no longer enough to post a pretty picture - people start delving into the origins of the dish, trade routes, migration patterns etc. When did this happen.
Just saw 'khandvi ice cream' on a menu. Either I'm getting old or Modern Indian restaurants are becoming more and more unhinged.
Now Brindisa has launched a 'rare pulse club' - delivering three heirloom beans from small Spanish growers every couple of months: brindisa.com/products/rar...
I feel sorry for all the newspaper interns whose only brief these days seems to be to track which celebrity follows and unfollows which other celebrity, and who wishes or fails to wish 'happy birthday' to each other, and then to write it up as an 'exclusive'.
Which Irish restaurant in London has imaginative vegetarian options (Denis Cotter-style recipes a bonus!) showcasing top Irish produce, especially cheeses?
Although this is a good idea, it stops short of exploring the history of the objects chosen - for example, the origins of many 'English' things like fish and chips, tea, pubs, football etc lie elsewhere and this should be pointed out by the campaigners.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Just noticed on his Instagram, which has been turned into a tribute account. We'd been following each other on there for years. I always enjoyed his posts and learnt so much, and have been wondering recently why he hadn't posted anything in a while. He was so knowledgeable and generous. RIP.
Oh no he’s died? So sorry to hear.
For a long time I thought that the old-school Bangladeshi-owned ‘curry houses’ were in decline - but I have randomly discovered that they’re fighting back with a mixture of lesser-known regional specialties, plus fun, gimmicky, tongue-in-cheek madcap concoctions like these…
@deliciouslegacy.bsky.social Hey thanks for retweeting so many of my tweets - it’s gone a bit crazy on my timeline! 😊
Nice one!
Writing about kombdi vade for my dictionary, I was reminded of how you don't always need bread or rice to mop up the sauce in your curry - fried, spongy, carb-y rice flour or multigrain fritters would do the job just as well. There should be more of these fritter-curry combos.
You found a restaurant that didn’t play any music?!
Can we use British pie week as an excuse to bring back Cranks homity pie - I desperately miss it
Publishers assume that people only want 'quick and easy' recipes, but what if you want to cook long or slow as kitchen therapy or weekend project. Like ratatouille with all the vegetables cooked separately, or trahana made from scratch. Where are the cookbooks for that.
I was once browsing a US-based chat forum where Americans were asking "what's hummus?"
This is lovely - 10 of Bombay's historic sweets, many of which are hyper-local or specific to particular communities: www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/...
Both were invented for purposes other than they ended up being used for.
Looking at ultra-processed foods' trajectory, there are striking similarities with AI: deep suspicion and scepticism; followed by perception it's "essential," thereby becoming ubiquitous; then (hopefully) a serious backlash when it's proven how badly it's screwing up the world.
It also got me thinking about Indian fasting days, and fasting/ "time restricted eating" recommended by today's nutritionists. Deliberate 'lack' or 'absence' of food - and the creative nature of recipes it can often lead to - is such an interesting topic.
A beautiful piece by Sadaf Hussain on the quieter, more contemplative meaning of Ramadan: indianexpress.com/article/opin...
I haven't watched this yet - but I love the austere, understated nature of Korean temple cuisine, so it's great to see that The Philosopher's Kitchen has landed on Netflix UK: www.netflix.com/browse?jbv=8...
We're quarter of the way into 21st century and people are still calling Indian restaurants 'curry houses'
These thefts are being ordered by international criminal gangs, same as alcohol, cheese, perfume etc so it’s part of a much bigger issue (I mean bigger than individuals doing it to line their own pockets).
It fascinates me that so many different cultures around the world, often with seemingly no connection to each other:
- celebrate harvest festivals in spring and autumn at around the same time
- have festivals honouring ancestors' deaths
- have tradition of hiding symbolic trinkets in food
Ha ha yes
As we hurtle towards international women's day and the usual articles about women chefs will be dutifully rolled out, I want to flag up something. There are many Gujarati restaurants with all-female teams of mostly older women, diligently cooking their family's recipes, that go largely unheralded.
Oh I missed this…
I'm actually tempted to fly to LA to join their protest march :) Can't believe there was so much abuse that someone set up an entire website about it. I hope other restaurant workers follow suit - let's expose these bastards.
There was a time when we had ‘food media’ (instead of a series of Substacks) and journalists were very active on social media and something like this would have been widely reported and caused widespread condemnation. I don’t know if we have that now, sadly.