Michael Shaikh's book, 'The Last Sweet Bite,' examines the impact of violence on culinary traditions in conflict zones. He draws on his experiences covering war crimes and human rights abuses while documenting how war disrupts not only lives but also food cultures. The persistence of communities striving to maintain their culinary heritage amid turmoil is highlighted, reflecting their resilience. Shaikh connects his personal history with language loss during partition to broader losses in food traditions, ultimately defining recipes as vital expressions of identity threatened by conflict.
When you're in the midst of seeing people going through generations of war, the lengths they will go to, to keep their food cultures alive.
I saw the same kind of tentacles of violence that had reached down through generations to steal language from my brother and sister and I were doing the same things to Afghans but with recipes.
His new book is called 'The Last Sweet Bite: Stories And Recipes Of Culinary Heritage Lost And Found.'
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