Srijita Biswas is a PhD Research Scholar and Teaching Assistant in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal (IISER Bhopal). She had her MA from Banaras Hindu University in English Literature. Currently, she is working on the gastronomic evolution of Calcutta for her doctoral project. Her research interests lie at the intersection of food, city space and literature. Apart from research, she enjoys cooking, exploring food trails and creative writing.
Lily Kelting is an assistant professor of Literary and Cultural Studies at Flame University in Pune, India. She is currently writing an academic book about the revival of heritage foods around the world, interweaving examples from the US South, Nordic region, and Western India. Sections of this research have been published in Food, Culture and Society, Southern Quarterly, and Paragrana. She is a former and occasional theater critic, magazine editor, radio journalist, dramaturg, and writer for publications like Vittles, Emergence Magazine, Gastro Obscura, and many others.
Dr. Aysha Sana works as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Calicut. She earned her PhD at the School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi, where her work explored the role of food in forming one's identity and memory. Passionate about food sovereignty and committed to fostering a sustainable food system, she closely follows the burgeoning food movement in India and globally. She firmly believes that food holds inherent political significance and advocates for integrating food justice into broader social change efforts.
Diyali Bhattacharya is a doctoral scholar at the National Institute of Technology, Silchar, India. She holds a Master’s degree in English Literature and Language from the University of Hyderabad. A budding researcher, she is interested in the politics of food and its intersection with culture. She has presented her research work at conferences hosted by institutions like Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Indian Institute of Space Science and Research.
Rajbir Samal is a food studies researcher, working on his Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. His overall research seeks to engender critical discourses on food as represented in literary and visual narratives coming out of South Asia. Apart from the academic relationship, he fosters a loving personal bond with food. As a researcher and an aficionado, he sees food as much material as symbolic, as much hegemonic as subversive, and as much sensual as conceptual. He can be reached at samalrajbir@gmail.com.
Dr. Aysha Sana doctoral thesis explored the role of food in forming identity and memory among the transnational communities. With an interdisciplinary scholarship of food studies and political science, she believes in the political significance of food and advocates for integrating food justice and sovereignty into broader efforts for social justice. Now living in Himachal, Aysha is exploring the mountain food system of the Himalayas.
Kurchika Nath research interests are based on her fascination with how food shapes identities of individuals and communities. She is interested in mapping gastronomic studies through the lenses of gender and caste. She has earned her Bachelors and Masters in English Literature from Presidency University, Kolkata.