Call for Paper Submissions for ICA Prize for Indian Food Writing
2025 Topic : ‘Rivers of Milk’ – Significance of milk and dairy in Indian food culture
The Indian Culinary Agenda invites any Indian national with an interest in the food history of the Indian Subcontinent to submit a paper for consideration. The topic of the ICA Writing Prize 2025 is ‘Rivers of Milk’ – Significance of milk and dairy in Indian food culture.
The deadline for submitting the final paper for the ICA Weekend is January 15, 2025.
ABOUT THE THEME
The theme for the ICA Food Writing Prize 2025 is ‘Rivers of Milk’: Significance of Milk and Dairy in Indian Food Culture.
India is the world’s largest producer and the second-largest consumer of dairy. In the past decade, India’s annual fluid milk consumption has far outpaced countries in the European Union, making the country the largest producer and consumer of cow milk. Besides fluid milk, Indians widely consume dairy products like paneer, ghee; the curd and yoghurt being the largest market for dairy products, while cheese has the lowest market value in the dairy industry.
And for good reasons. Dairy in India isn’t just about dietary nutrition. Cows and goats have been found in the excavations of Harappan civilization; ritualistic use and consumption of milk have been mentioned in the Rigveda. Milk and dairy have occupied the central stage in the subcontinent’s food, religion, mythology and culture. 80% of India’s population follow Hinduism, for whom milk is sacred and follows the Hindu life from birth, in religious rituals, in healing and death.
Though this ritualistic correlation to purity often lends an upper-class and upper-caste tonality to conversations around milk, the use of milk and dairy is extremely nuanced in India. Every region, religion, caste and privilege-group uses milk and dairy differently. Access to kind(s) of milk and dairy products is underlined by economic and demographic factors. The access to and use of different kinds of milk and dairy in food and drinks for different groups like micro-regional rural populations, urban labourers, across caste and religious groups; its centrality in government programmes for improving people’s access to nutrition, the market difference and gap between urban and rural areas; its culturally specific and ritualistic use – all these and much more provide ample pathways to investigate our relationship with milk and dairy.
We encourage writers to build the paper around the topic’s relationship with food and cookery while prosecuting the topic from a wide array of disciplines and perspectives, ranging from art and the humanities to the social sciences, to the realms of the policy-maker and, especially, the practitioner in the kitchen.
22 September – Submissions open for paper proposals
30 October – Paper proposal submission deadline
25 November – Confirmation of paper acceptance
30 January – Deadline for submitting final paper for the ICA Weekend
15 February – Deadline for submitting presentations and other audiovisual materials to support in-person paper presentations at the ICA Weekend
22 – 23 February – The Indian Culinary Agenda Weekend and Announcement of the ICA Prize for Indian Food Writing
Post-ICA Weekend Late February – Final revised paper due for consideration for publication
All persons, above the age of 18, and holding Indian citizenship (resident in India or abroad) are eligible to submit. As we are trying to provide a platform for emerging voices and writers, authors who have previously published a book(s) need not apply. Those with published academic, semi-academic and/or media work are eligible for entry.
The Indian Culinary Agenda will identify and encourage diverse and new voices and narratives in research and writing on the food history and culture of the Indian subcontinent. To encourage deeper research and documentation of the rich food culture of the land, ICA announced the first-ever prize in India for semi-academic writing in Indian food history and culture in 2024.
The author of the winning paper will be announced at the ICA Weekend and awarded a cash prize of Rs. 50,000.
Your paper proposal should be submitted via the form (link). The proposal should be between 500-750 words and needs to –
- a) outline your central theme and key points,
- b) describe the scope of your research, and
- c) explain why your paper makes an original and compelling contribution in examination of the topic.
We will accept one submission per author.
Your final paper should be in MS-WORD document file format (Font Times New Roman, Size-12pt.) along with tables, figures, digital photo etc. Paper submissions may include illustrations, and additional illustrations can be included in your presentation.
The Editorial Committee will ensure that a broad range of subjects within the year’s topic is presented. These should reflect diversity of geography, culture, communities and time periods.
Ten successful proposals will be chosen by our editorial committee. If you have any doubt about the suitability of a proposed paper topic, please contact the editor for clarification before the deadline by emailing Angshuman Choudhury at angshuman.ch93@gmail.com.
A Jury of prominent Food Writers will select the three best papers from the accepted submissions.
If your proposal is accepted, your draft paper is due by 30 January 2025.
There is a strict 5000-word limit, which excludes a brief abstract, footnotes and bibliographies. There is no minimum length for a paper: quality, scholarship, and originality will be considered more important than length. Paper submissions may include illustrations.
Notes should appear as endnotes following the text.
Authors should follow the Style Guide of the Modern Humanities Research Association, which is available here. For this year, we apologise for being unable to take submissions in any language other than English.
After the conclusion of the ICA Weekend, authors will have the opportunity to work with our Editorial Team to revise their papers for the online ICA Compendium.
The paper should be original work, and authors will be required to sign a Representation and Indemnification form prior to publication. By submitting a paper to the ICA, authors agree that the ICA has the right to publish the paper in the ICA Compendium 2024, ‘Rivers of Milk’ – Significance of milk and dairy in Indian food culture. .
We encourage all authors to attend the ICA Weekend in New Delhi on 22-23 February 2025 to present their papers in person; we won’t be able to accommodate online presentations.
Authors attending the ICA Weekend 2025 are required to send a presentation based on their paper (no more than 15 minutes) on or before 15 February 2025. Our Editorial Team will work with the authors in revising the presentations, if required, to adapt them into the standard proceeding format of the ICA Weekend.
Any additional AV materials accompanying your presentation must be submitted no later than 15 February 2025 and copies must be brought to the ICA Weekend by authors.
Authors will present their papers during two panel sessions on 22 February 2025. We encourage them to go beyond their draft written paper to present their ideas, additional research material, and interesting anecdotal information that may be supported by AV material if needed, rather than just reading their papers.
Paper proposals will be evaluated by the Editorial Team without regard to the proposer’s ability to pay for a place ICA Weekend.
Since our resources are limited if you are travelling from outside, we will not be able to support the travel expenses for the authors to and from New Delhi, local travel expenses and the cost of staying in Delhi. If you wish to book accommodation at a subsidized rate at or near the ICA Weekend venue, please contact us at (email) for support.
Authors will, however, be exempted from paying the registration fees for attending both days of the ICA Weekend and the Gala Dinner.
For any further queries, please contact us at connect@indianculinaryagenda.org