(Penguin, Rs 295) has her travelling through the kitchens of India to savour delicacies and differences.

She knows her food. Banerji has been writing about Bengali cuisine since the early 1990s but broadened her spectrum with Eating India in which she crisscrosses the country. “I had to do a lot of research for sure, but it was amazing to see how food was and still is an integral part of our socio-political history,” says Banerji. She says she did not want to write a cookbook, though. “I have always wanted to explore what food means to us, how personal memories and national histories are entwined with it,” she says.

Though she has made her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living away from India does not bother Banerji as much as ignorance about Indian food does.

“Indian food is not just chicken tikka masala,” she scoffs and throws her hands in the air. “It’s frustrating to hear people talk about the excellence of French and Italian cuisine, with nobody uttering a word about the varied Indian cuisine, because Indians themselves don’t know about it,” says Banerji .

She was working on the English translations of Satyajit Ray's works when food caught her imagination and soon she was furiously gleaning information from all known sources —namely, her parents. “My mother was a fabulous cook and my father a real gourmet. Food brought us all closer,” she says.

As she continues her love affair with all things edible, Banerji rues the invasion of the malls. “We’ve become a western fast food nation,” says Banerji.