Bad Table Manners pushes the boundaries of food storytelling in South Asia. Despite a universal love of delicious food, South Asian communities’ narratives and food practices maintain social hierarchies, caste inequalities, and racial and gender discrimination. In spanning both “high” and “low” food cultures, this podcast deconstructs monolithic notions of South Asian or “Indian” food by diving into micro contexts of households, restaurants, neighborhoods, streets and communities. It also reveals how hyper-regional and local culinary expressions are shaped by global gastronomic histories and trends.
Hosted by Delhi-based anthropologist Meher Varma, Bad Table Manners is narrator-driven, ethnographic, and playful. It will take you to the seaside, through bustling markets, and the intimacy of the kitchen table in private homes. It reminds you that when good table manners are tossed, great conversation begins.
Bad Table Manners is part of Whetstone Radio Collective. Whetstone Radio Collective creates storytelling dedicated to food origins and culture, with original content centering the perspectives of global majority populations and diasporas.
You can learn more about this podcast at whetstoneradio.com, on Twitter @whetstoneradio, on TikTok and Instagram @whetstonemedia and subscribe to our Spotify and YouTube channel, Whetstone Media, for more podcast content. You can learn more about all things happening at Whetstone at WhetstoneMedia.com.
Bread Is Life: Kashmir’s Sacred Flame - Whetstone Audio Dispatch
What if a simple loaf of bread could tell the story of an entire place, its resilience, its politics and poetry? In this episode of Whetstone Audio Dispatch, host Meher Varma takes us deep into the heart of Srinagar, Kashmir, where the unmistakable aroma of freshly baked tchot leads her to the neighborhood kandur, a traditional bakery that’s far more than just a place to buy bread.
Through conversations with bakers, poets, and everyday customers, we uncover how these bakeries, modest structures built of brick and smoke, have become cornerstones of community life, sacred tradition, and resistance. We meet legendary Zareef Ahmed Zareef, who traces the 4,000-year-old roots of Kashmiri baking, and listen to local myths where mystics emerge from tandoors bejeweled and unburned.
Whether it’s feeding a neighborhood during a curfew, sharing unspoken trust through pay-later systems, or trading morning news, bread becomes a portal into an unseen Kashmir, one where bread is more than sustenance; it is survival, spirit, and social glue.
This episode was made possible by the support of @heirloomcities (https://www.instagram.com/heirloomcities/?hl=en)
13 Aug 2025
Gardening on Water: The Dal’s Ancient Floating Gardens
Gardening on Water: The Dal’s Ancient Floating Gardens
For thousands of years, Kashmir has been called jannat (heaven) by Urdu poets, travelers, and tourists. The Dal Lake in Srinagar is a jewel in its crown. Flamingo pink lotuses carpet the waters, and shikaras —small wooden boats— row upon it, making the destination a favorite for Instagram-loving honeymooners. However, deep in the Dal is a world less visible: its floating gardens.
In Gardening on Water, Meher Varma, returns with a two-part audio dispatch from Srinagar, introducing us to the political complexities that challenge the reductive depiction of 'Kashmir as heaven on earth.’
Join us as we row you through the majestic and complex world of Dal's Floating Gardens.
This episode was made possible by the support of @heirloomcities (https://www.instagram.com/heirloomcities/?hl=en)
2 Mar 2022
Revolutionary Seed: Voice to Indian Farmers
In September 2020, the government of India approved a series of agricultural acts, often referred to as the “Farm Bills.” What was proposed threatened to change the state of agriculture in India forever, and thus, inspired a long farmers' protest that is only just coming to a conclusion (thanks to a recent announcement that confirms the laws have been repealed). This episode tracks my journey to Tikri border — located on the capital’s suburbs — where thousands of farmers lived as they protested the effects of neoliberalism on Indigenous agricultural systems. Cooking with the community and feeding everyone who came to the site (including the police!) was one crucial way in which solidarity was cemented. My guide, and the guest of this show, is the inspirational activist Navkrian Natt, who along with thousands of farmers, resisted injustice with all her heart.
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
23 Feb 2022
How Indian Food Became Frustratingly Hip
Thanks to the cool-ification of Indian food, traditional ingredients from the subcontinent, like turmeric and ghee, are now repackaged and resold in Western and Westernized markets as if they were “new” discoveries. Cleaned up, minimalistic design labels are often employed to give the familiar and unfamiliar look, and conceal what one can argue is a recolonization of the Global South by the Global North. The U.S.-based academic Rumya Putcha tells us why this hipster Indian food is problematic, while Vidya Balachander, current South Asia editor at Whetstone, helps us unpack the idea of the global supermarket.
Topics covered in this episode:
Min 1:40: Meet Rumya Putcha
Min 2:08: Meet Vidya Balachander
Min 3:29: The root of the frustration
Min 7:24: Logic of “cool-ification”
Min 9:42: Marketing Otherness
Min 11:00: Wellness as a form of travel
Min 15:56: Displays of diversity in supermarkets
Min 18:53: Aesthetics of Otherness
Min 21:47: Going beyond outrage
Min 25:38: Question of authenticity
Min 28:03: No easy answer
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Rumya Putcha (@snailmobile821), Vidya Balachander (@vidya83)
16 Feb 2022
Beyond Momos: Imaginary Homelands and Tibetan Food in India
Beginning with a brief history of Tibetans in exile, this episode explores how food can create imaginary homelands, even if it means that authenticity itself needs to be invented and reinvented. Three Tibetans in the diaspora, Jamyang Phuntsok, Tencho Gyatso, and Nima Dorjee, are the guests on this episode. Through conversations that range from personal histories to current food interests, we will talk about gastronomy and memory, tsampa as a potential political tool, and what role food can play for a community in exile.
Topics covered in this episode:
Min 0:00: The idea of home as connected to food
Min 1:42: Meet Jamyang Phuntsok
Min 1:58: Meet Tencho Gyatso
Min 2:40: Meet Nima Dorjee
Min 4:34: An overview of Tibetan food in India
Min 6:30: The popularization and adaptation of momos
Min 10:09: Politics of tsampa
Min 16:32: On authenticity in the context of exile
Min 21:05: Chinese influence in Tibetan food
Min 23:01: Food and solidarity
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Jamyang Phuntsok (@jongtrukh), Tencho Gyatso (@simplytibetan), Nima Dorjee
Ethereal Relaxation by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/8719-ethereal-relaxation
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
9 Feb 2022
Ripples and Tipples: How Partition Changed Indian Food
In 1947, the British finally left India after 300 years of colonial rule. They created many arbitrary borders as they left, the most prominent of which was the line that was to separate India from Pakistan. The aftermath of this divide resulted in the greatest migration in human history, as millions made their way across hundreds of miles in the hope of creating new homes. The impact of this critical event is mirrored in what has become known as Delhi’s food culture, both at home and abroad. The well-known food historian Anoothi Vishal reminds us how partition lives on in India’s capital, while Jonathan Nunn, editor of the shape-shifting newsletter Vittles, shows us how the event created ripples in the imperial city of London. Partition transformed “Indian food,” in both colony and empire, and still shows its effects in new Indian restaurants today.
Topics covered in this episode:
Min 0:00: What is Partition?
Min 1:35: Meet Meher’s grand-aunt, Jeeti Nani
Min 2:30: Meet Anoothi Vishal
Min 3:42: From Mughlai cuisine to a dominant Punjabi cuisine
Min 8:31: Jeeti Nani’s account of dining practices pre- and post-Partition
Min 12:17: Collapse of a feudal order
Min 15:14: Meet Jonathan Nunn
Min 16:25: Ripple effects of Partition in London
Min 21:55: Complexities behind the modern British-Raj aesthetic
Min 27:19: Regional cuisines in London beyond Punjabi tandoori food
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Anoothi Vishal (@anoothivishal), Jonathan Nunn (@jonathandnunn)
2 Feb 2022
Mid-Day Meal
The Mid-Day Meal feeds millions of schoolgoing Indian children daily, and has widely been considered one of India’s most successful welfare programs. Two economists who have been instrumental in its success, Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera, will uncover the history of this program, but also remind us that because what's on plates is always political, the future of welfare too, is uncertain. A focused discussion on the contentious introduction of the egg in the meal will, in particular, reveal how sometimes, unfortunately, political interests can trump the basic human right to food and nutrition.
Topics covered in this episode:
Min 0:00: What is the Mid-Day Meal?
Min 1:50: Meet Jean Drèze
Min 2:14: Benefits of the Mid-Day Meal
Min 6:04: Criticisms of the program
Min 7:00: Meet Reetika Khera
Min 10:31: A strong case for the inclusion of eggs
Min 12:51: The politics behind the egg
Min 17:52: Why eggs over other sources of protein
Min 24:11: Lobbying attempts by the biscuit industry
Min 26:48: What Mid-Day Meal looks like today
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Jean Drèze, Reetika Khera
26 Jan 2022
Where There Are No Butchers, There Are Cinnamon Buns
This episode flips the script on caste and food by celebrating and exploring the food practices of caste oppressed communities. Is there such a thing as “Dalit cuisine?” Do Dalit chefs and food enthusiasts accept this term? What are Dalit recipes, and how have they been archived and reproduced? Can food be a site of caste abolitionism? The two guests on this episode – Vinay Kumar and Rajyashri Goody – who self-identify as Dalit, offer their own personal reflections on food and food politics.
Topics covered in this episode:
Min 0:48: The caste system in India
Min 3:38: Meet Vinay Kumar
Min 4:10: Meet Rajyashri Goody
Min 7:37: Caste and food
Min 10:14: Is there such thing as standalone Dalit cuisine?
Min 12:32: Access to food (and lack thereof)
Min 14:49: Where there are no butchers, there are cinnamon buns
Min 19:56: When elite words are applied to Dalit food
Min 25:49: The complexities behind the idea of a Dalit cookbook
Min 27:43: Limitations to a “recipe”
Min 31:19: Balancing moments of joy and struggle
Min 35:15: Food as protest and resistance
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Vinay Kumar (@thevinaygreen), Rajyashri Goody (@rajgoody)
19 Jan 2022
The Dream of Two Kitchens
This episode presents a micro-history of contemporary Indian kitchen design, as told by Manju Sara Rajan, the editor of a prominent design magazine, and Madhav Raman, an award-winning architect in New Delhi. We look at what lies behind the urban, aspirational dream of two kitchens — one visible and one concealed — which has roots in a historical wet and dry kitchen binary. We also look at what interventions open and modular kitchens have made in this history, and what it means for gender and caste politics that still lie at the heart of Indian kitchen design. How do urban Indians negotiate the waves of aromas and the inevitability of oil splatters that come with making Indian food with their desire to showcase their Scandinavian-inspired kitchens in India all at once? We talk about how in urban India, the aspiration is really to have it all.
Topics covered in this episode:
Min 1:25: Meet Manju Sara Rajan
Min 1:58: Concept of the wet and dry kitchen
Min 4:30: Meet Madhav Raman
Min 4:57: Economic liberalization in India
Min 9:50: How the new apartment kitchen transformed the way people cooked
Min 13:53: The front-of-house and back-of-house split
Min 17:25: The fridge’s place in the Indian kitchen
Min 23:06: Vastu-compliance
Min 25:04: Future of Indian kitchen design
Min 26:01: Gendered labor divide
Min 30:07: How COVID affected Indian kitchens
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Manju Sara Rajan (@manjusararajan), Madhav Raman (@anagramarchitects)
12 Jan 2022
Eating Capital
Eating Capital focuses on the restaurant business in Delhi and Mumbai, an industry that, according to most experts, has irrevocably transformed due to the COVID pandemic. Cloud kitchens have exploded, and delivery, rather than dining in, has become the name of the game. In this episode I speak with an established restaurant consultant, Samir Kuckreja, and two restaurant owners, Kainaz Messman and Jiten Suchede, to ask what it really takes for independent cafes and coffee shops to tick in today’s highly competitive market. What are the values that restaurant owners must weigh in order to survive? These conversations are full of sharp insights for anyone who has ever thought about opening a cafe, and the news is not all discouraging.
Topics covered in this episode:
Min 3:22: Meet Samir Kuckreja
Min 3:33: The impact of the pandemic on India’s restaurants
Min 4:50: Meet Kainaz Messman
Min 6:00: Adapting one’s business to survive
Min 9:46: Cloud kitchens and delivery models
Min 15:20: Meet Jiten Suchede
Min 17:11: Jiten’s tips for running a restaurant
Min 20:56: Challenges of working in hospitality as a woman
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Samir Kuckreja, Kainaz Messman (@theobromapatisserie), Jiten Suchede (@jugmugthela)
5 Jan 2022
The Juice of Mango Clichés
To speak about Indian mangoes may be cliché, but because Indians never seem to tire of the subject, there’s always some juice. London-based writer, Nikesh Shukla, will humorously tell us how to devour one correctly – a skill most South Asians seem to inherently possess – while halfway justifying why our obsession for the fruit can and should live on. A conversation with food historian Vikram Doctor follows as he talks about the colonial legacy that underpins this obsession, and the parochialism that most Indians adopt as they cultivate their specific mango fetishes. I conclude in a kitchen with a Delhi-based pastry chef, Ruchi Vaish, who turns herself in as a Mango Obsessive. For her, mango season is the very best.
Topics covered in this episode:
Min 00:31: Meet Nikesh Shukla
Min 3:27: How to eat a mango properly
Min 4:30: Mango in literature
Min 7:55: Meet Ruchi Vaish
Min 8:02: Ways to cook and bake with mango
Min 9:01: Meet Vikram Doctor
Min 10:30: Alphonso mango, the “king of kings”
Min 12:49: Is mango parochialism political?
Min 17:37: The British love for mango pickles
Min 21:08: Income hanging from a tree
Min 30:20: A mango that’s “good for diabetics”
Min 31:55: Making mango cheesecake with Ruchi
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guests: Nikesh Shukla (@nikeshshuklawriter), Vikram Doctor (@vikram.doctor), Ruchi Vaish (@intheknowkitchen)
15 Dec 2021
The Scale Show
This episode unravels the discrepancy between the illusion of oceanic abundance that our modern pescatarian diets are premised upon, and the reality of our waterways. To tell this story, I travel through Goa’s fish markets, seafood restaurants and jetties with marine biologist and Goa native – Aaron Lobo. We discuss how the modern fishing industry is depleting ocean life at an alarming rate, the implications of promoting the dinner plate-sized filet, and seeing fish as superfoods. It is quite apparent that there are not that many fish in the sea after all, but rather than making a case to stop fish eating, Aaron suggests something more compelling as a solution.
Topics covered in this episode:
Min 1:20: An intro to Bad Table Manners
Min 3:27: Meet Aaron Lobo
Min 4:16: Reconnecting with the food system
Min 4:51: Meet Samanth Subramanium
Min 5:06: Goa’s economy of idleness
Min 6:30: The performativity of modern-day fish markets
Min 11:20: From artisanal fishing to bottom trawling
Min 18:55: The importance of bycatch to ecology and food security
Min 24:18: A case for eating lower down the marine food web
Min 26:37: An author’s reflections on fishing
Min 28:54: Globalization’s contribution to the arrival of new species in Goa
Min 32:00: Steps to a better system
Learn more about this episode of Bad Table Manners at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at WhetstoneRadio.
Guest: Aaron Lobo (@meenscientist)
14 Dec 2021
Trailer - Bad Table Manners
Here’s a peek at what’s coming up in the first season of #BadTableManners, launching this Wed, Dec 15!
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