Love, Loss, and What We Ate Post 2

It is hard being a brown woman in a white world. Padma Lakshmi, the author of Love, Loss, and What We Ate, and I face the same struggles of not being Indian enough and not being American enough. We both fall somewhere in the middle. Through Lakshmi's parent's divorce, she switched between her father's house in the US and her mother, Vijaya's, house in Chennai, India. The constant push and pull between the two cultures is what added to her isolation as a child, which carried into her adulthood. 

However, her constant was food. Whether that be the classic American TV dinner or flavorful home-cooked meals from her Amma, she found herself indulging in the comfort of food. I personally related to Lakshmi's connection to food, as I never realized the importance of my mother's cooking until I moved off to college. When you are in the absence of good home-cooked food on those long-tiring school days, you finally appreciate the warm food you received as a child. 

I really appreciated her discussion on the evolving relationship with her body and self-image conforming to two different cultural standards. There are comments that I got told growing up with an immigrant Indian mother that contradicted what I saw in American pop culture and at school growing up in California. It took me a lot of time to accept myself and my identity as a person, and it was reassuring to see other women of color going through that process as well. This was especially prevalent with Lakshmi's involvement in the modeling world, as she was seen as "exotic" to modeling casters. It took a lot of patience to value herself as a human being compared to an object by casters. 

 



Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 1, 2023 at 3:47 PM

    Hey Eshayna,
    I can also relate to this on the level of not being Hispanic enough yet not American enough. As well as the one comfort being food. Like you, I've also come to realize and appreciate the traditional Hispanic foods that my grandma will make for me and my family.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ryan castilloOctober 1, 2023 at 6:54 PM

    Hi Eshayna,
    Nice post! I can also relate to cultural clashes like these at times. This book sounds really interesting! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LeonOctober 2, 2023 at 9:30 AM

    Hi Eshayna, I also can relate how important my mother’s cooking is and I did not appreciate until I left for college. I think you did a great job with relating your own experiences with identity and that in Padma’s book.

    ReplyDelete

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