Past Imperfect Episode 28: Pronoti Datta on how to eat like a Mumbaikar

Past Imperfect Episode 28 features Dinyar Patel, Associate Professor of History at SPJIMR, in conversation with Pronoti Datta, author of In the Beginning There Was Bombay Duck: A Food History of Mumbai. Mumbai, the Maximum City, is arguably also the city of maximum food variety. Where else do people put shrimp in banana cake and make biryani out of patrel? In the Beginning There Was Bombay Duck chronicles Mumbai’s astonishing diversity of cuisines, both past and present. Datta describes how the city’s food options developed through British and Portuguese inputs, the arrival of new communities bringing their distinct masalas, and the bounty of the sea. Food provides a unique window into the city’s complex socioeconomic tapestry. On the one hand, Mumbaikars have been united in their craze for tasty pao bhaji and chaat. On the other hand, rich and poor have rarely ever eaten in the same places and particular food items, like vada pao, have become politically charged. Datta’s food history goes beyond the contents of our plates to example the people and communities which have made Mumbai’s food so delicious and complex.