Feasts and Fasts
A History of Food in India
Distributed for Reaktion Books
- Contents
- Review Quotes

Introducation
1. Climate, Crops and Prehistory
2. The Age of Ritual, 1700-1100 BCE
3. The Renunciant Tradition and Vegetarianism, 1000-300 BCE
4. Global India and the New Orthodoxy, 300 BCE-500 CE
5. New Religious Trends and Movements: Feasting and Fasting, 500-1000 CE
6. Food and Indian Doctors, 600 BCE-600 CE
7. The Middle Ages: The Manasolassa, Lokopakara, and Regional Cuisines, 600-1300 CE
8. The Dehli Sultanate: Ni’matnama, Supa Shastra and Ksemakutuhalam, 1300-1550
9. The Mughal Dynasty and its Successors, 1526-1857
10. The Europeans, the Princes and their Legacy, 1500-1947
11. An Overview of Indian Cuisine: The Meal, Cooking Techniques and Regional Variations
12. New Trends in Indian Food, 1947-Present
13. The Food of the Indian Diaspora
Timeline
References
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index
“A richly detailed volume, with colorful historic images, some poetry ("Ode to Ghee") and a few ancient recipes. It begins with the prehistoric era, moves on to religious influences, the arrival of Marco Polo in the 1292, the development of regional variations, the Partition of India in 1947 and the creation of tandoori chicken, a relative newcomer to the Indian table.”
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