{"id":258393,"date":"2025-07-12T07:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T07:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/258393\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T07:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T07:53:11","slug":"in-flavours-without-borders-radhika-howarth-works-backwards-from-the-diverse-origins-of-todays-pantry-essentials-to-the-historical-confluences-that-led-us-to-this-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/258393\/","title":{"rendered":"In \u2018Flavours without Borders\u2019, Radhika Howarth works backwards, from the diverse origins of today\u2019s pantry essentials to the historical confluences that led us to this moment | Books and Literature News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The aspirational kitchen of the 21st century, as seen on Instagram, TikTok and other digital platforms, is unmoored from context as we once knew it. Cuisine, as is traditionally understood, grew out of culture and geography. It emerged from the grain of life \u2014 how people worked, the elements they battled \u2014 and it was watered and nourished by what they valued \u2014 seasonings, spices and ingredients that were sometimes so prized that they led to wars of conquest, bloodshed, slavery and great explorations<\/a><\/strong>. On the ever-widening sliver of the world that is the Internet, this context is missing. Neither culture nor geography determines the contents of your refrigerator, and as to rare or vanishing flavours \u2014 why, those can now be synthesised in a food chemist\u2019s lab! (\u201cTruffle\u201d oil, anyone?) In the 21st century, those of us who can afford do, eat what we please, when we please, liberated from the old forces that determined what was a staple and what could only be a luxury<\/p>\n

In \u2018Flavours without Borders\u2019, Radhika Howarth works backwards, from the diverse origins of today\u2019s pantry essentials \u2014 oyster sauce and fenugreek seeds, gochujang and sundried tomatoes \u2014 to the historical confluences that led us to this moment. From the Silk Road and the Spice Route to the Buddhist Trail in Southeast Asia and the Moorish rule in Spain, Haworth examines the many kinds of food that we, the global citizens of today, know and love well. Inspired as much by the \u201cUnited Nations council of flavours\u201d that her own multicultural<\/a><\/strong> extended family is, as by her life in the UK with its \u201cvibrant, dynamic and culturally diverse society\u201d, Howarth is a cook of the Instagram age.<\/p>\n

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In her book, Haworth has set herself the task of tracing the journey of a handful of ingredients and dishes across cultures, an endeavour that uncovers forgotten stories and long-ignored connections between different parts of the world. Take the samosa, whose origins can be traced back to Persian literature of the 11th century and whose most well-known variation \u2014 the \u201cclassic\u201d variation \u2014 is the one found in tea shops, canteens and homes in India (here also, though, fillings and size vary across regions). What connects the three recipes Haworth features in her book \u2014 the Uzbek Samsa, Punjabi Samosa and Tanzanian Sambusa \u2014 beyond the shape<\/a><\/strong> of the food and the broad concept of a stuffed pastry? How did this food travel from West to Central to South Asia and to East Africa? Or take atho noodles, a popular street food in North Chennai<\/a>: What can it tell us about the historical connections between communities in southern India and Myanmar?<\/p>\n

All that, however, is history. It is in the final section of the book that the reader encounters Haworth\u2019s vision of the future, with recipes like Coconut Sambal Spaghetti and Mushroom Do Pyaaza Crostini. These dishes are her riposte to those who insist on \u201cauthenticity\u201d, on food that is \u201cuncontaminated\u201d by the forces of history. In challenging dearly-held ideas about how a certain dish \u201cshould\u201d be prepared and what ingredients are allowed, Haworth invites readers to refocus their attention on what really matters: What the food they eat tastes like and how it makes them feel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The aspirational kitchen of the 21st century, as seen on Instagram, TikTok and other digital platforms, is unmoored…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,99084,99082,99081,77,99085,99083,99087,99080,99086,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-258393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-cultural-exchange","10":"tag-decontextualized-food","11":"tag-digital-influence","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-food-authenticity","14":"tag-historical-culinary-connections","15":"tag-indianepxress-com","16":"tag-modern-cuisine","17":"tag-radhika-howarth","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114839185319634366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}