project premise

one part indian cookery :

Food is sustenance, nourishment, pleasure and comfort. It is a language, a culture and a heritage. Food is an identity and the best way I know how to tangibly pass down my Punjabi Indian heritage to the next generation.

Using recipes passed on by community members, cookbooks and pioneers of Indian cookery, this is a works in progress and slow building repertoire of Punjabi Indian recipes. Follow along. Or don't. I’ll just shed some extra mom tears before I fall asleep tonight.

one part discourse :

We need dialogue! chit chat chan serves as a forum for debunking cultural stigmas through explorations of identity and real talk on otherwise taboo and difficult topics: abuse, divorce, motherhood, love, sexuality and wellness. Technically an immigrant but having lived most of my life in the West, I feel there is no better way to understand identity and heritage than through the experiences of our elders, peers and the next generations alike. It is about reclaiming our heritage in the tone of our contemporary selves, fortifying an inner truth and giving space for the next generation to live with more courage and freedom.

If you’re even the smallest part Indian, forget it, Desi, okay just human, that might be enough to get you to explore. 

Keeping it real.

project roots

Just as the food at an Italian restaurant establishes a sense of authenticity when described as nonna's cooking, the bar set for an Indian dish comes from the level of similarity it has to one's own mother's. So when I took a genuine interest in cooking Indian food, I naturally turned to my own mom for some serious education. It became quickly apparent that recipes were a thing of the modern world and asking for one meant a watch and learn methodology. The measurements are vague ("andaaza kar," "measure it with your eyes") and the cooking times are instinctual. I asked other Indian Aunties in the community and the attitude was the same. Trying to obtain something written down was like asking them for a Haiku. It was foreign and far too restrictive. 

Envy deepened my green hands as I fumbled through recipes in cookbooks that should have felt less foreign. Do these women even understand the depth of skill they possess (doubtful); a fine craft that over the years have been explored and honed into their own signature styles. Or perhaps her craft, borne from an expectant skill as an enviable, prospective wife, was simply happenstance. I began to think about how many other expectations to which Punjabi and South Asian women paid heed and where I was forgiven having been raised in the United States. What about the men whom now more than ever are redefining masculinity. How does the breaking of gender stereotypes shape and affect their identity?

Now, having been married for 6 years and as a mother, I am curious (read: desperate!) to know what conflicts other first generation, Western living, South Asian, third-culture folk are dealing with. From whom can I deepen my connectivity to my Indian roots if not for the elders and my peers?

Be it whatever multi-hyphenated personality that you are, I am filled with curiosity about the happiness and sadness, the loss and gain, the anxiety and hopefulness in each journey.

Here you will find a collective of recipes, personalities and stories, forging a new normal in all of its multifaceted agendas.