“The task was to fit their bodies into these infrastructural worlds.” Food, Bodies, and Ethnicities in the Work of Krishnendu Ray

David Sutton

In this eighth interview in the series on the development of Food Anthropology I sit down with Professor Krishnendu Ray (NYU). We discuss Professor Ray’s initial interest in food and cooking when he found himself pursuing graduate study in the US and having to feed himself for the first time. He describes the change from “squatting” cultures to “sitting and standing cultures” for Indian migrants in the US, and the complex processes of retraining the body to create new ethnic subjectivities. Professor Ray describes his experience teaching at “the other CIA,” and the impact it had on his thinking, the joys and dangers of catholic methodology and the importance of street food vendors of various kinds in the provisioning of cities. We also discuss the “Pushcart War.” Enjoy!