Our Journey
Our journey began with a local food hero from Rampur, Dr. Tarana Husain Khan, who discovered historic Persian and Urdu cookbook manuscripts at the Rampur Raza Library. As she started translating these manuscripts, writing about them, and trying to cook the forgotten dishes of Rampur, she connected with Prof. Siobhan Lambert-Hurley from the University of Sheffield. The project ‘Forgotten Food: Culinary Memory, Local Heritage and Lost Agricultural Varieties in India’ funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom was born in 2019 – and it continues to revive forgotten dishes of Rampur’s cuisine through its various endeavors. Our team comprises of food historians, sociologists, plant scientists, heritage practitioners, farmers, writers and chefs. Project partners include the University of Toronto’s Culinaria Research Centre, City Food Research Group at New York University and Rampur Raza Library.
Celebrating Rampur’s Culinary Culture
- Translating cookbooks and working with Rampur khansamas to reimagine the forgotten aspects of Rampur’s cuisine.
- Trailing two hugely successful food festivals to showcase the revived dishes of Rampur––the ‘Jashn e Rampur’ at IIC Delhi (November 2022) and ‘Rivaayat Rampur Food Festival’ at Jehanuma Palace Hotel (March 2023).
- Publication of two anthologies on food writings-Desi Delicacies: Food Writings From Muslim South Asia and Forgotten Foods: Memories and Recipes From Muslim South Asia.
- Cultivation of heritage rice varieties at Benazir farms, Rampur for three consecutive years.
- Curating a highly popular Forgotten Foods series in Scroll.in.
- Production and screening of ‘Dastarkhwan e Rampur’, a documentary highlighting the historic journey of Rampur cuisine.
- Supporting khansamas and other local artists through the pandemic.
- Collecting and archiving the oral history of Rampur cuisine.
- Publication of a special issue on ‘Forgotten Food Histories of South Asia’ in Global Food History (Volume 9, Issue 2 (2023).
Food Fests
Food Fests
