Tenth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Spaces reverberate our experience of existing in the world. Private and everyday spaces are a reflection of one’s identity and culture. The space of home acts as a mirror for the functioning of the larger society and culture. In the context of popular culture in Indian, the modern kitchens have structurally changed with the emergence of technology and better equipment. The ideology and the culture of people living in this space is under constant flux. This study offers to critique the setting and architectural design of private kitchenscapes and community kitchens and its impact on identity in South India. This will be achieved by analysing travalogue, ‘Travels through South Indian Kitchen’ by Nao Saito, the community kitchens in South Indian temples to explore the question of identity and food spaces. Eating is a useful medium to explore the space of the body because it is one of the ways that the spatiality of our bodies is brought into being (Mansvelt 2004:331). Hence, places are symbolic constructs and foodspaces enable individuals to physically and cognitively map their identity through design, setting and discursive practices within that space. Kitchenscape is not only a place for cooking food and a place to relish the taste of that food, it constitutes information, experience, cultural stereotypes and practices.