Thanks to the cool-ification of Indian food, traditional ingredients from the subcontinent, like turmeric and ghee, are now repackaged and resold in Western and Westernized markets as if they were “new” discoveries. Cleaned up, minimalistic design labels are often employed to give the familiar and unfamiliar look, and conceal what one can argue is a recolonization of the Global South by the Global North. The U.S.-based academic Rumya Putcha tells us why this hipster Indian food is problematic, while Vidya Balachander, current South Asia editor at Whetstone, helps us unpack the idea of the global supermarket.

Topics covered in this episode:


Min 1:40: Meet Rumya Putcha

Min 2:08: Meet Vidya Balachander

Min 3:29: The root of the frustration

Min 7:24: Logic of “cool-ification”

Min 9:42: Marketing Otherness

Min 11:00: Wellness as a form of travel

Min 15:56: Displays of diversity in supermarkets

Min 18:53: Aesthetics of Otherness

Min 21:47: Going beyond outrage

Min 25:38: Question of authenticity

Min 28:03: No easy answer



Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.

Guests: Rumya Putcha (@snailmobile821), Vidya Balachander (@vidya83)