Jaipur to host conference with special session on 'Culinary Imaginings: Exploring Food in Literature and Folklore'

Jaipur to host conference with  special session  on 'Culinary Imaginings: Exploring Food in Literature and Folklore'

A special session titled 'Culinary Imaginings: Exploring Food in Literature and Folklore' to be conducted during the International Conference on Emerging Food Studies: Intersections of Culture, Science and Sustainability at Poornima University, Jaipur, scheduled for 9–10 January 2026.

This special session seeks to examine how food is represented in Indian English fiction and oral folk traditions. It will examine the symbolic meanings associated with culinary practices and their intersections with issues of class, caste, gender, migration, and memory. While Indian English fiction has often used food as a marker of hybridity, nostalgia, and cultural negotiation, folk oral traditions ground food within rituals of hospitality, festivals, and agrarian life, making it a collective metaphor of survival and community bonding.

Through this dialogue between the written and the oral, the panel intends to foreground how culinary imagery creates a layered understanding of Indian society and its diverse traditions. It also seeks to highlight the interdisciplinary scope of food studies, intersecting literature, anthropology, and cultural history. Ultimately, the discussion will invite participants to “taste” stories not only with the mind but also with the cultural palate, appreciating how food nourishes both narrative imagination and lived experience.

 Key Themes

• ·         Food as metaphor and memory in Indian English fiction

• ·         Culinary references in oral folk traditions and songs

• ·         Food, identity, and diaspora

• ·         Hunger, scarcity, and resistance in literary imagination

• ·         Gendered dimensions of food in literature and folklore

Important Dates:

• ·         Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 October 2025

• ·         Notification of Acceptance: 25 October 2025

• ·         Full Paper Submission: 30 November 2025

• ·         Conference Dates: 9–10 January 2026

Submission Guidelines:

Authors are invited to submit their abstracts (250–300 words) to the session chairs via email at divy81@gmail.com and hkandpalbkn@gmail.com with a cc to conference.dfshs@poornima.edu.in