All of the articles in this proceedings volume have been presented at the International Conference on Emerging Food Studies (ICEFS2026) during 9-10 January, 2026 (hybrid mode) in Poornima University. These articles have been peer reviewed by the members of the Review Committee and approved by the Editor-in-Chief,...

This paper discusses the ways that food memoirs, written frequently at the margins of official historical narrative, provide a powerful site of narrative resistance. By recalling through meal memory, kitchens, and family routines, these works subtly evoke lives characterized by subordination, conflict,...

V. S. Naipaul’s works profoundly engage with the varied themes such as the enigma of displacement, perturbed quest for belonging, and considered cultural memories. Though, these themes are globally debatable like the motifs of history, politics, and geography. Naipaul oeuvres also mediate the ordinary...

Rajasthan holds an important place among the states of India because of its rich and eventful cultural past. The cultural aspects of the state are of great interest to people not only in India but across the world. A lot has been written about its glorious history, its unique architecture, its colourful...

On the contrary, Hariharan’s The Feast is a provocative and symbolic reading in which women secretly get together to dine and exchange stories, providing them with a voice and an identity in a society wherein they are frequently ostracized by men. This study analyzes how female characters in the story...

Food is an integral part of human life. The type of food, method of its preparation, and the way of its consumption tell a lot about a culture and tradition. In Hinduism, after the death of a family member, people show grief and remembrance through food. Rituals like Pind-daan, where rice balls are offered...

To analyze the world around us and to explore the everyday to the global food and nationalism axis provides a prismatic observation over a much neglected area of study: the connection between food, nationalism and literature. Food is always considered as an essential area of a culture because it’s a...

This paper examines the traditional food practices and ecological knowledge of the Parathavar fishing community as depicted in Joe D’Cruz’s novel Ocean Rimmed World. Set in the coastal region of Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu, the novel provides a rich portrayal of the lives of fisherfolk whose survival is...

Food as an entity is principally attributed with the functionality of demonstrating cultural roots, pertaining either to a specific geographical landmark or community of people following varied traditions. The emerging field of Food Studies in literature illustrates how food constitutes a pivotal role...

Climate variability, resource limitation and increase in demand are putting pressure on food production systems, and the limits of traditional and narrowly optimized AI-driven solutions in agriculture. The paper fills this gap by suggesting a hybrid artificial intelligence and data analytics system to...

For promoting healthy developments and establishment of child’s eating habits, timely introduction of complementary food, which include any liquid or solid preparation of food, not similar with breast milk or any formula feeds, is very crucial. There are different types of cereals and legumes, which...

For thousands of years, the role of traditional alcoholic drinks has been more than just to be consumed; rather, they have been a part of human culture with many functions. This literature review is focused on the cause beneath the health benefits of traditionally fermented alcoholic drinks by first...

A rare genetic disorder known as Uniparental disomy (UPD) occurs when both chromosomal copies are received by the child from one parent and not following the Mendelian inheritance laws. Although, UPD primarily investigated within the domains of medical genetics and forensic science, but it also carries...

The research here outlines an Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) research design to increase the efficiency of conventional Chinese fishing nets along Kerala’s coastline. With 2lakh + sonar-based fish records gathered from Chathedam, Cochin Kerala along with various sensor data...

The nutrition of the mother in pregnancy is a significant factor that defines the growth and neurodevelopment of the fetus, and future health conditions of the children. Poor or unbalanced nutritional consumption at this critical stage can predispose the risk of physical and neuro-developmental disorders....

This paper presents the analyses of Hisashi Kashiwai’s The Kamogawa Food Detectives through the theoretical lenses of Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus and Marcel Proust’s involuntary memory. Kashiwai portrays the cherished memory associated with a partially forgetten dish of the clients who visit the father...

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices skillfully blends elements of magical realism to explore the complex interplay between food, migration, and identity. The narrative foregrounds the experiences of immigrants who, although geographically separated from their homeland, remain emotionally...

This paper examines the intersections of sanity, madness, and vegetarianism in literary and biographical texts spanning the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries across Britain, America, India, and South Korea. Using a qualitative research framework grounded in close reading, the study analyses texts...

In the Indian tradition, the system of Garbh Sanskar, or garbha-saṃskāra, is an integrated prenatal care system that combines community-based nutritional advice with emotional interventions, including music, prayer, stories, meditation, and ritual observances, to support the fetus during pregnancy. In...

A plate of food on screen is never just a mere source of sustenance. It represents labor, hard work and the numerous struggles embedded within systems of class, cultural identity and production. The cinematic representation of food, thus becomes a marker of class, labor and culture thereby transcending...

The sustenance and existence of human life predominantly rely on the food of earthlings, the food culture they live in and the food style they have. Food not only serves as an appetiser but also embodies many other facets of human life. Sometimes people tend to have food not because of starvation but...

On-screen portrayal of women in kitchens or culinary narratives is integrated into Hindi films. They mirror the gendered expectations and power structure of Indian society and sometimes contest them too. Food reflects social power ladder, cultural character, gender roles, and sentimental associations....

Within the tapestry of Indian culture, the domestic space of the kitchen has always been viewed as an area of caregiving and nourishment. While early Indian cinema has largely showcased this view, offering a counter-narrative is the 2024 Hindi film Mrs. by Arati Kadav. It dismantles the romanticised...

While food is a cultural language, we often cannot see the labour of the women who prepare, preserve, and maintain it. This essay examines how globalisation and modernisation have affected women’s food roles, often reinforcing gender inequalities while generating diverse forms of resistance. Women have...

Human evolution is inextricably linked to the evolution of food, with culinary practices shaped by the available flora, fauna, and socio-economic conditions of different communities. In Kerala, settled within the luxuriant Western Ghats, the abundance of natural resources has given rise to a diverse...

Indian initiative of the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) is one of the world’s largest meal provision programs in schools. The main purpose is to reduce classroom hunger, more and more students coming for primary education and continuing the same. This system ensures trust and equity among diverse communities. The...

This study explores how cuisine, culture, and racism intersect in the everyday experiences of people from Northeast (NE) India in mainland Indian cities. The NE people are very distinct in terms of social-cultural, language, their lifestyle, food habit and ethnic identities from mainland India. However,...

Food in Odia folk traditions is never a neutral presence; it becomes a marker of agency, survival, intimacy, and domination. Folktales, ritual texts, and oral narratives from Odisha often stage food as both sustenance and transgression where feeding, refusing, or consuming another becomes a site of power....

Women have been battling for so many things in their lives. The journey of their lives constituting vibrant roles as daughters, wives, mothers and grandmothers has numerous challenges to be met. The way they deal with these is highly commendable. They make use of all their assets—be it background, culture,...

This paper aims to develop a distinctive food philosophy that represents an indigenous concept of ontological unity and social justice by examining the Sikh traditions of Seva (selfless service) and Langar (community kitchen). The study argues that Sikh food practices offer a non-Western framework for...

This paper examines how contemporary Indian women’s culinary memoirs—particularly those published after 2020—deploy food as a narrative and mnemonic device to reframe domestic spaces and gendered experiences. Focusing on Masala Memsahib (2022) by Karen Anand and Fabulous Feasts, Fables and Family (2024)...

The American Southwest is growing more at risk of its food and water systems because of the drought, the decline in the groundwater or rather surface water flows due to a fad, and the growing food waste too. Colorado River Basin is the backbone of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah but these four...

Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman portrays fertility in rural Tamil Nadu as a condition shaped not merely by biology but by food practices, ecological rhythms and cultural expectations. This paper examines how dietary habits, seasonal eating patterns and culturally embedded humoral beliefs construct male...

Food constitutes a vital element in the cultural spectrum while reinforcing one’s identity. Ancient Indian thought categorised the body as annakosh (food-sheath), highlighting the role of food in making of the human constitution. Food has long been considered as art and culinary practices are deeply...

Mistress of Spices is a romantic drama movie released in 2006 that was directed by Paul Mayeda Berges. The novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakarunj served as the inspiration for this film. Mistress of Spices is a romantic drama movie that was released in 2006. This movie is directed by Paul Mayeda Berges...

This study examines how ritualization and normative construction in food through myths lead to the development of complex taxonomic schemes that organize meanings, identities, and social boundaries. Through analytical exploration of Ira Mukhoty’s novel Song of Draupadi, the chapter navigates palimpsestic...

This study delves into the rich food culture of the Marwar region in Rajasthan. It investigates how cuisine has transformed over the ages, prompted by historical, social and ecological considerations. The Contemporary Marwari food culture under a consistent influence of challenging desert climate, limited-water...

The paper examines the food cultures of Tamil Nadu’s tribal communities where ecological sustainability, cultural identity, and resistance intersect. Studying beyond conventional studies frames tribal diets as a subsistence practice. This research is examined based on the aspects such as the symbolic...

The present paper will analyze the social discourse which forms the concept of sustainable eating and the multifaceted cultural dimensions which affect the uptake of the concept in different societies. Sustainable eating has become a core concept in the environmental as well as the popular health rhetoric,...

This study analyses bread as a recurring literary motif in texts set on the Grand Trunk Road (from Afghanistan to Chittagong) through the dual lenses of a culinary artifact and a marker of cultural memory, migration, and belonging. The study aims to fill the gap in the scholarly literature where travel...