A taste of the terrain

A COOKBOOK OF KARGILI DISHES, A COFFEE-TABLE BOOK OF INTIMATE PORTRAITS, OR A BOOK OF ANECDOTES FROM ACROSS THE REGION—STORIES FROM A KARGILI KITCHEN OFFERS SOMETHING TO EVERY KIND OF READER

- ANJALI NAIR

STORIES FROM a Kargili Kitchen begins with a likening of the physical contours of the human body to the borders of the state: an analogy fitting for a people whose relationship with food can be conjectured as caused by, despite, or regardless of the conflicts that shaped the region. For the reader, it is hard not to experience anemoia—a longing for a land or time unknown—as author Yash Saxena, who was born in Jammu and Kashmir, carries on along a purposeful wander through the homes of Kargil, the joint capital of the Union Territory of Ladakh and a key site of combat during the 1999 India-Pakistan war.

While determined to introduce the everyday Kargili to the greater India, Saxena does so rightly without overlooking the role of conflict in the Kargili's life: their identity with the land and the food in the backdrop of the state and its ever-looming military presence.

Stories from a Kargili Kitchen succeeds in what most books aspire to be in the days of swipe and scroll: a start-from-anywhere format and a book of interest to readers and non-readers alike. A cookbook of Kargili dishes, a coffee-table book of intimate portraits, or a book of anecdotes from across the region—the book can be worthy of both the occasional browser and the cover-to-cover peruser. The name and map coordinates of the exact village that each tale hails from adds an impressive detail at the start of each chapter.