Feeding the City
Work and Food Culture of the Mumbai Dabbawalas
by Sara Roncaglia
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Feeding the City is an ethnographic study of the fascinating inner workings of Mumbai's dabbawalas. Cultural anthropologist Sara Roncaglia explains how they cater to the various dietary requirements of a diverse and increasingly global city, where the preparation and consumption of food is pervaded with religious and cultural significance. Developing the idea of "gastrosemantics" - a language with which to discuss the broader implications of cooking and eating - Roncaglia's study helps us to rethink our relationship to food at a local and global level. 
Book Description
Every day in Mumbai 5,000 dabbawalas (literally translated as "those who carry boxes") distribute a staggering 200,000 home-cooked lunchboxes to the city's workers and students. Giving employment and status to thousands of largely illiterate villagers from Mumbai's hinterland, this co-operative has been in operation since the late nineteenth century. It provides one of the most efficient delivery networks in the world: only one lunch in six million goes astray.Feeding the City is an ethnographic study of the fascinating inner workings of Mumbai's dabbawalas. Cultural anthropologist Sara Roncaglia explains how they cater to the various dietary requirements of a diverse and increasingly global city, where the preparation and consumption of food is pervaded with religious and cultural significance. Developing the idea of "gastrosemantics" - a language with which to discuss the broader implications of cooking and eating - Roncaglia's study helps us to rethink our relationship to food at a local and global level.
This open book is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-ND). You can download Feeding the City ebook for free in PDF format (3.8 MB).
Table of Contents
Part 1
Bombay-Mumbai and the Dabbawalas: Origin and Development of a Parallel Economy
Part 2
Dabbawala Ethics in Transition
Part 3
Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust: The Shaping of Dabbawala Relations
Conclusions
Tastes and Cultures
Appendix
Theory and Practice for an Ethnography of Diversities
Book Details
Title
Feeding the City
Subject
Sociology and Social Sciences
Publisher
Open Book Publishers
Published
2013
Pages
236
Edition
1
Language
English
ISBN13
9781909254008
ISBN10
1909254002
ISBN13 Digital
9781909254022
ISBN10 Digital
1909254029
PDF Size
3.8 MB
License
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