Essential. Evocative. Addictive. The experience of food can mean many things to many people. Whether it's carrying a chilli around to dinner parties in the UK or finding out what it really means to be a vegetarian in a carnivorous world, whether its exploring the junk food revolution in India or discovering the art of slow cooking, this full-bodied collection of food writing will take you back to the kitchens of your childhood, and far out to realms of imagined flavours and sensory excitement. A joyous mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar, the home-grown and the street-born, Chillies and Porridge is a celebration of that most vital ingredient of life: food. Features essays by Anita Nair, Avtar Singh, Bachi Karkaria, Bulbul Sharma, Chitrita Banerji, Sumana-Jayaditya-Bikramjit, Floyd Cardoz, Janice Pariat, Jerome Marrel, Jhampan Mookerjee, Kai Friese, Karthika Naïr, Naintara M. Oberoi, Niloufer Ichaporia King, Mamang Dai, Manu Chandra, Nilanjana S. Roy, Rocky and Mayur, Saleem Kidwai, Sidin Vadukut, Srinath Perur, Tara Deshpande and Wendell Rodricks.