The first phase of ICA Food Writing Prize 2024 is complete and we already have far too many stories to tell. But we will hold on to them for the ICA Weekend. The first jury of the ICA Food Writing Prize comprised of Ruth Dzouza Prabhu, Priyadarshini Chatterjee, Avantika Bhuyan and Charmaine O’Brien.
We received 37 proposals from Indian writers from within and outside India. What an overwhelming response in the first year itself! Thank you everyone. It was proof that there is an audience to engage in long and deep deliberations on food. ICA is not out of sync with current times.
Most of the proposals had the promise of becoming a well developed piece. That is why, we have selected 12 instead of the originally intended 10. The jury concluded it would be unfair to keep to ten than to include two more. We will share some of the jury’s notes soon.
We are crushed to let go of few promising proposals. But we intend to circle back, work with promising writers and do all that it takes to make sure more and more of such writing comes out. Don’t lose heart.
Lastly, we are glad to see many papers from communities that we don’t readily hear from; about practices that aren’t considered mainstream and from writers who may not have written these papers otherwise.
Please join us in celebrating the writers who have made it to the long list and wishing them luck for the final pitch.
1. Women & Heirloom Varieties – Sunaina Dhir
2. Indigenous rice in pre-partition Sindh – Harshita Lalwani
3. Rice in Tamil Sangam literature – Dr Anisha N
4. Kaipad farming in North Kerala – Arunima P
5. Tai Khamti Rice – Dr Farzana Begum
6. Heirloom Paddy Conservation – Sreedevi Lakshmi Kutty
7. Black rice of Manipur and Assam – Rubeka Idrishi
8. Unravelling Rice Heritage of Odisha – Rachit Kirteeman
9. Roots in Rice, An auto-ethnographic exploration of rice in Miya Community of Assam – Abdul Kalam Azad
10. Rice in Kashmir – Sumayyah Qureshi
11. Social History of Khaw Tai of Arunachal Pradesh- Suraj Gogoi
12. Heirloom Rice across Odisha’s PVTG Communities – Santa Nibedita
Here is what the jury had to say:
Avantika Bhuyan
“Are we going to get the same cliched ideas around rice production and related culinary practices? That was my biggest concern while approaching the initial proposals. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see such in-depth deliberations, be it ethnographic explorations of specific communities to drawing linkages between literature and food. The writers made an effort to move from the micro to macro in an engaging narrative backed by solid research. Food writing, unfortunately in India, is associated with floral reviews and empty embellishments, which often leave you wanting for solid information. The selected papers hopefully shall change this perception and show that food writing too can be a great lens to view the political, social and economic state of a nation, and the myriad communities that make up its fabric. Judging the initial proposals fills me with hope for research-backed food writing.”
Ruth Dzouza Prabhu
“Reading through the proposals what struck me was just how many approaches to documenting and understanding heritage rice there can be. The possibilities are endless and the wealth of information to gain immense. I look forward to seeing completed papers and hope that those who didn’t make it this time, try their hand at this another time.”
Charmaine O’Brien
“The best aspect of judging proposals for the ICA Writing Prize was the diversity and depth of responses to the seemingly simple subject of ‘rice’. The completed papers are really going to take readers into the heart of India. The challenge was having to reject interesting concepts that did not address the stated criteria.”
