Blends memoir and history to explore the role of Punjabi food in fostering community and identity among South Asian refugees and immigrants.
Safar: Finding Home, History, and Culture through Punjabi Food in the American West follows the journey of South Asian refugees, immigrants, and their childrenin particular, Sikhs, Jats, and Muslimswho moved to the southwestern states of America over centuries as farmers, truck drivers, restaurant owners, and dhaba/diner stall cooks. An expedition in search of the aslior real Punjabi foodMadhushree Ghosh explores how their food traveled from pre-partition British India to now, while weaving in her own immigrant journey as a graduate student to America in 1993, her quest to find home through the food of her Bengali refugee parents, and the physical journey she embarked on to visit the Punjabi communities in California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Focusing on four Punjabi women, each a part of a different immigration wave of South Asia to the American West, Ghosh highlights the food and recipes they brought with them that connect them to their pasts. Safar shares stories of displacement, discrimination, community, and hope, while shedding light on immigrant journeys and the true meaning of home, comfort food, and what constitutes a true Punjabi meal. Featuring essential recipes, this is a poignant reflection on what it means to find home and identity through food and culture as an immigrant to the United States.
Arvustused
Too often, when recounting our community's journey to America, we overlook their everyday experiences. Safar beautifully shows how generations of Sikhsand Sikh women in particularhave made their homes in North America and stayed connected to their ancestors and to their homelands in Punjab through food, culture, tradition, all while building an inclusive community. -- Simran Jeet Singh, national best-selling author, "The Light We Give" In Safar, food becomes a map of movement, survival, and connection, carrying the stories of Punjabi women whose lives quietly reshaped the American West. It is one of those books that pulls you in and then stays with you. In a time when migration feels taboo and the word immigrant can carry so much weight, Safar is exactly the kind of book the world needs right now. It is a humanization of the stories of migration and a reminder of the resounding humanity that exists within every journey. -- Claudia Sandoval, chef; television host; and bestselling author, Claudias Cocina Safar is a singular memoir, full of stories about migration, love, and foodthree elements that can form worlds. Madhushree Ghosh gives us tales of people from India and Mexico, their descendants, and their new American family recipesof tacos and curry, tortillas and roti. -- Susan Straight, best-selling author, "Sacrament," "Mecca" and "Highwire Moon" I love how Madhushree Ghosh weaves the power of food in human stories. To follow the stories of immigrant women who got a part of their homeland in the form of food is something that resonated with me. -- Maneet Chauhan, chef and award winning author
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Blends memoir and history to explore the role of Punjabi food in fostering community and identity among South Asian refugees and immigrants.
Authors Note
Part 1: Why We Travel
Chapter 1: Why We Travel and How This Happened
Chapter 2: What Makes a Sikh?
Chapter 3: The Safar, The Journey
Part 2: The First Wave: Sheila, The Punjabi-Mexican Daughter of Pioneers
Chapter 4: Brown Marriages and the Food They Created
Chapter 5: A Lot of Laws
Chapter 6: Sheila, Daughter of The First Wave
Chapter 7: But What About the Japanese?
Chapter 8: Sheila in Arizona
Chapter 9: Sheila, The Indian
Chapter 10: Sheila, The Student
Chapter 11: Sheila, The Home-Maker
Chapter 12: Sheila, The Pie-Maker
Chapter 13: Sheila, Now
Part 3: The Second Wave: The Gurdwara, The Women
Chapter 14: The Second Wave
Chapter 15: The Twenty-Six: Who Built The Gurdwara?
Chapter 16: Daughter of Second Wave Families
Chapter 17: The Quietness of Those Who Leave
Part 4: In Between Immigration Waves: The Khalistan Story
Chapter 18: Stockton Gurdwara: Of Religion, Revolution & Community
Chapter 19: The Bhindranwale Story: A Terrorist? A Saint?
Chapter 20: Indira and The Sikh Genocide
Chapter 21: Khalistan, the Idea: Now What?
Part 5: The Third Wave, Jassi, the Amritdhari, Ajits Mother
Chapter 22: Diwali and The Face of Punjabi Tandoor: Jassi
Chapter 23: Jassi, Now
Chapter 24: Jassi, The Third Wave Immigrant
Part 6: On Truckers, Dhabas, & Those Who Changed Central Valley California,
Uma Devi
Chapter 25: Dhabas, A Love Story
Chapter 26: The Sikh Age
Chapter 27: The Third Wave, Now
Part 7: The Safar, The Journey, And Now
Chapter 28: And Now
Chapter 29: London, Our People, and Our Safar
Notes
Index
About the Author
Madhushree Ghosh, the author of the award-winning KHABAAR, has been published in 2023 Best American Essays in Food Writing and Pushcart-nominated with work in The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, LitHub, and more. She gave a TEDx talk highlighting East African women refugee farmers of San Diego. A Southern California resident, Madhushree can be reached at @writemadhushree.
