An exploration of how and why food matters in the culture and literature of the South Asian diaspora.

An interdisciplinary anthology of the rich Asian American influence on U.S. popular culture From henna tattoo kits available at your local mall to “faux Asian” fashions, housewares and fusion cuisine; from the new visibility of Asian film, music, video games and anime to the current popularity of martial arts motifs in hip hop, Asian influences have thoroughly saturated the U.S. cultural landscape and have now become an integral part of the vernacular of popular culture. By tracing cross-cultural influences and global cultural trends, the essays in East Main Street bring Asian American studies, in all its interdisciplinary richness, to bear on a broad spectrum of cultural artifacts. Contributors consider topics ranging from early Asian American movie stars to the influences of South Asian iconography on rave culture, and from the marketing of Asian culture through food to the contemporary clamor for transnational Chinese women’s historical fiction. East Main Street hits the shelves in the midst of a boom in Asian American population and cultural production. This book is essential not only for understanding Asian American popular culture but also contemporary U.S. popular culture writ large.

When Raji Jallepalli was a child growing up in India, she loved to sneak into the kitchen to carefully observe the cook and ask questions about whatever happened to be on the stove. Her parents discouraged such behavior--since Indian ladies did not cook. With a career in the kitchen unthinkable, Raji immersed herself in a career in microbiology. Years later, she visited France and fell in love with French food and wine. On first tasting the food she thought, "This is nice, but it could use some of the assertive flavors of my homeland as well as some lightening up." Three important influences--her Indian upbringing, scientific background, and love of French cuisine--inform Raji's cooking and account for her incredible success as a chef, and a self-taught one at that. Her eponymous restaurant, Restaurant Raji in Memphis, Tennessee, was nominated for a James Beard Award in 1996 and 1997 and helped establish Raji as one of this country's hottest culinary stars. She has been called "a major player" by the New York Times, and her restaurant was dubbed "one of the most exciting in America" by Food & Wine. Raji defines her brand of fusion as "a rather quiet combining of vastly different cultures, philosophies, and cooking techniques." In her kitchen she retains the basic principles and balance of French cuisine while introducing the profound bouquets of Indian cooking. As star chef and Raji fan Charlie Trotter writes in the foreword, "Hers becomes one cuisine--not a melding of two. It is completely natural, there is nothing contrived about it." All the recipes in Raji Cuisine come from Raji's restaurant but are adapted for the home kitchen. A full glossary of Indian spices appears, along with a primer on techniques and notes on choosing wine to accompany Raji's uniquely flavored fare. Outstanding, easy-to-follow recipes, gorgeous four-color photographs, and Raj'i's own reflections on her incredible journey to stardom in America's foremost culinary circles--all combine to make Raji Cuisine a welcome and remarkable debut from an extraordinary talent.

This is the only world cookbook in print that explores the foods of every nation-state across the globe, providing information on special ingredients, cooking methods, and commonalities that link certain dishes across different geographical areas. Increasing globalization, modern communication, and economic development have impacted every aspect of daily life, including the manner by which food is produced and distributed. While these trends have increased the likelihood and expansion of food influences, variations of the same popular dishes have been found in regions all over the world long before now. This book is an ecological, historical, and cultural examination of why certain foods are eaten, and how these foods are prepared by different social groups within the same—and different—geographical region. The authors cover more than 200 countries and cultural groups, featuring each nation's food culture and traditions, and providing overviews on foodstuffs, typical dishes, and styles of eating. This revised edition features in excess of 400 new recipes, several new countries, and additional sidebars with fun facts explaining unique foods and unfamiliar ingredients. More than 1,600 recipes for popular appetizers, main courses, desserts, snack foods, and celebration dishes are provided, allowing readers to construct full menus from every country of the world.

The Oxford Symposium on Food on Cookery is a premier English conference on this topic. The subjects range from the food of medieval English and Spanish Jews; wild boar in Europe; the identity of liquamen and other Roman sauces; the production of vinegar in the Philippines; the nature of Indian restaurant food; and food in 19th century Amsterdam.