The Sweet Curse: Sugar’s Hidden History

Talk by Pankhuri Agrawal

Founder of Yayavr Food Readers’ Club

Sugar has become an indispensable part of our lives - be it in our cups of chai or coffee, in the sweets prepared for festivals, or in the brownies ordered on Swiggy.

However, we know little about its history and production. Through this meet, we will attempt to trace how sugar production is connected with intergenerational trauma, geographical identities, and national memory. Participants are strongly encouraged to read the materials shared with them before the talk. 

We will begin with Uzma Aslam Khan’s haunting short story “The Origin of Sweetness” which follows the daughter of a mithai shop owner in Karachi.The adolescent girl Zulekha tries to come to terms with her father’s suicide. The short story is a part of "Desi Delicacies: Food Writing from Muslim South Asia" (2021), an anthology of essays, short stories and recipes edited by Claire Chambers.

We will then move onto excerpts from Sidney Mintz’s seminal book “Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History” (1985), as well as heartbreaking portions of Gaiutra Bahadur’s “Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture” (2013) which make visible the global footprints of sugar.

Lastly we will discuss palm sugar which is closer to home through fragments of Aparna Karthikeyan’s brilliant  book “Nine Rupees an Hour: Disappearing Livelihoods of Tamil Nadu” (2019). 

Pankhuri Agrawal Bio

Pankhuri Agrawal is an independent facilitator, writer and researcher based in Bangalore, India. 

She founded the Yayavr (pronounced ya-ya-var) Food Readers’ Club in June 2022. We discuss the literature, history, sociology, culture and politics of food in India anchored in a particular ingredient (example turmeric), dish (chai) or concept (grief, tiffin). The club has completed 17 meets and has grown into a close knit community of readers, who generously share resources as well as stories. 

In 2022, Pankhuri conducted a research project on street vendors with Prof. Krishnendu Ray for the New York University’s Department of Nutrition and Food Studies. 

In 2024, she was a visiting professor at Vidyashilp University.

Pankhuri has a B.A. in “The Growth and Structure of Cities” from Haverford College, U.S.A and an M.A. in Philosophy from the Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities. She has performed classical Manipuri dance across the U.S. and India. Her two children love to bake banana bread and make dosas with her.

You can find her writings, research and projects on her instagram profile @yayavr.India