Madhushree Ghosh
Madhushree Ghosh is the author of food memoir Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory and Family. She is the daughter of refugees, an immigrant, a woman of color in oncology diagnostics and an activist. Her nonfiction been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, Longreads, Bomb Magazine, Catapult, Guernica, The Kitchn, Serious Eats, The Rumpus and others. Her work has been awarded a Notable Mention (Best American Essays in Food Writing), Pushcart-nominated, an Oakley Hall scholarship and a Sirenland Positano residency (2020-21). Editorial roles have been in gastronomy (Panorama Journal) and international fiction (Del Sol Review). She actively mentors women leaders in science and hosts food and discourse events at her home in San Diego. Ghosh has a PhD in biochemistry and a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology from Johns Hopkins University. She is also certified in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from Cornell University as well as in Conflict Management and Global Negotiations from Thunderbird University, AZ.
Twitter: @WriteMadhushree
Instagram: @WriteMadhushree
Are there particular films that have influenced your writing?
I’m Desi, but of course, movies, especially Bollywood and Bollywood-adjacent movies are what I live for! Memoir writing, not only is related to the memory of food and what it represents, but also music and films around that time. Bollywood movies in the 70s and 80s were loud, brash and filled with the angry young men railing against the ‘system’ while dancing in bell bottoms with huge hair. I identified with then reigning superstar Amitabh Bachchan who still is a very huge star, so movies like Don, Mukaddar ka Sikandar, Coolie and the music associated with them made my childhood, and therefore my life in New Delhi 1977-1980.
When I moved to America, my writing style also changed to adapt to western sensibilities—it became more measured, more showing, less telling, till I realized I come from the land of mythological tales, folklore and sagas. My writing evolved to include languages more than English, dialogues more than exposition, and songs and poetry from Bollywood adjacent movies like Kahaani, Talash, and Mom that are feminist leaning, focusing on music, a search for self, and discovery.
Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?
Savory all the way! When I was a child and I didn’t know what the word ‘savory’ meant, I assumed it meant something we adore, so it had to be salty and spicy!
My go-to comfort food is a simple dal-chawal. Or as we call it in Bengali, dal-bhaat. It’s standard very easy comfort food that’s truly desi—a moong or masoor dal (boiled) and seasoned with onion seeds, cumin, green chilies and topped with coriander leaves. Mix this protein rich dish with white rice—a perfect combination of protein and starch, add a dollop of home made ghee, your touch of fat, and squirt some lemon juice, i.e. citric acid to break the protein down better. It’s easy, delicious, healthy and reminds me each time of home. This is what inspires me—food that brings me back to the family that doesn’t exist in this world, but is always in my heart and therefore, my writing.
What period of history do you wish you knew more about?
Having been colonized for centuries means the story was told from extremes—either by colonizers or by the colonized. In that, what we lose is the underrepresented, especially women and their lives during the British rule—1858-1947 (post-Sepoy Mutiny, post East India Company rule from 1773-1857). What happened to women, not the women of privilege, but the ones without? Living in a caste- and religion-focused society, the levels of patriarchy were significant, but also, part of life. How did religion play a role and among Hindus, the caste system that then treated women as property and/or irrelevant? I wish there were more records I could access, given I don’t live in India anymore. And I wish there were more written records but coming from a culture of oral lore, stories and histories, I’m afraid that we may have lost that perspective completely.
Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?
We exist in a patriarchal society where we as women have been reminded time and time again about why we aren’t worth it. In India, where the gender and caste system actively pushes women into a second-class citizenship role, over 80% of women in domestic partnership have noted violence to have been perpetrated by their partners, and over 33% of women have experienced some form of physical, emotional or sexual violence during their marriage or long term partnership. In America, where I live, of all the murdered women, about 33% are murdered by their intimate partner.
The reason why I bring this up is because violence against women has a direct correlation to abuse, control and erasure of women within a patriarchal community. In Harvard Business Review, imposter syndrome was defined as doubting your abilities and thinking you are a fraud especially at work. But it is a result of systemic racism and gender bias. Violence and erasure are very interlinked and to that is associated imposter syndrome.
What piece of clothing tells the most interesting story about your life?
My blue Kashmiri shawl. It’s many decades old, that my father gave me as it was cold in New York and the wool embroidered piece is hand worked by Kashmiri craftspeople –and tells a story of a people who have been subjugated for years, in British rule and now as part of India. I have learned more about that state, as it is part of India, and yet its people have been stripped of many basic citizenship allowances under curfew, under revocation of autonomy and lockdown (in 2020-21). The blue shawl reminds me of the privilege I come from where I could leave for a better future, but it also highlights that I represent a country where we come from colonial rule and also continue to establish similar colonial administrative rules within the nation.
