Breakfast, Identity, and Urban India: Priyadarshini Chatterjee on First Bite

Breakfast is often seen as the simplest meal of the day, but it carries stories of memory, migration, labour, and identity.In this episode of The Reading List, Priyadarshini Chatterjee joins us to discuss her debut book, First Bite, where she travels across ten Indian cities to explore the cultural and historical significance of the morning meal.From street-side staples to deeply local traditions, we talk about how ecology and migration shape what cities eat, how work and daily rhythms influence the first meal, and how breakfast quietly challenges the idea of India as a predominantly vegetarian country.