ABSTRACT
Any discussion of Indian food in the United States has to take note of the fact that any strict definition of ‘Indianness’ in this context is vulnerable to essentialisation. The relationship between food and nationality is quite frequently seen as isomorphic, and such a view may well get reified in a society like the United States where ethnic cultural practices — including food and cooking, dress, music, etc. — are often the principal means for diasporic communities to retain a sense of ‘indigenous’ identity.
