The Konkani community has often struggled to find an effective way to preserve its culture. Colonial conflict, regional division, and diasporic migration have stood in the way of creating a unified identity. My thesis argues that Konkani cooking traditions comprising heirloom ingredients, conventional cooking tools, ceremonial food practices, and adaptable diaspora recipes constitute a vibrant and evolving repository. This makes the kitchen an essential yet overlooked space for cultural memory. Concentrating specifically on the Konkani communities in Karnataka, I explore how ingredients such as Kokum underscore an understanding of plant ecologies; how seafood sheds light on coastal traditions; how gendered practices like Bapama’s (grandmother’s) "pinch-and-eye" estimations pass on valuable culinary knowledge; and how meals like Pathrode (colocasia rolls) and Kori rotti (crispy rice with chicken curry) are important markers of caste, migration, and resistance. Despite the obstacles of industrialization and language change, efforts to preserve recipes online, cooking experiences, and sharing food traditions have helped maintain this culinary heritage. Harnessing the kitchen as an archive, my thesis examines both written records and embodied cultural practices, aiming to capture the subtle, often unspoken nuances that standard Konkani cookbooks, recipe blogs, and even oral histories tend to overlook.
