Beloved community activist, food & culture writer Madhushree Ghosh poignantly explores the role of Punjabi food as a source of home and identity through history. In discussion with Huda Al-Marashi, don’t miss this exciting book launch for Safar: Finding Home, History, and Culture Through Punjabi Food in the American West.
This event is free and open to the public. Copies of Safar are available on a first-come, first-served basis until sold out, so we recommend pre-ordering a copy early to guarantee your signed book. Orders placed by May 15 receive a 10% discount. Proceeds from book purchases support the San Diego Public Library.
ABOUT THE BOOK
“Too often, when recounting our community’s journey to America, we overlook their everyday experiences. Safar beautifully shows how generations of Sikhs-and Sikh women in particular-have 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 of The Light We Give
Safar: Finding Home, History, and Culture through Punjabi Food in the American West follows the journey of South Asian refugees, immigrants, and their children-in particular, Sikhs, Jats, and Muslims-who 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 asli—or “real” Punjabi food— Ghosh explores how the cuisine traveled from pre-partition British India to now, weaving in her own immigrant journey as a graduate student to America in 1993. She shares the 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. Including essential recipes, Safar celebrates the home and identity found through food and culture.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
MADHUSHREE GHOSH is the author of the award-winning KHABAAR: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family (2022). Her work has been published in 2023 Best American Essays in Food Writing, as well as Pushcart-nominated and published in The New York Times, Vogue India, Washington Post, LA Times, The Writer, Longreads, Catapult, BOMB, Guernica, LA Review of Books, LitHub, Panorama Journal, The Rumpus, Brevity, Hippocampus Magazine, Atlas Obscura, The Chicago Quarterly Review, DAME Magazine, Le Sirenuse, Garnet News, The Surfers Journal, Del Sol Review, D&O magazine and others. She is an Oakley Hall scholar, actor, and screenwriter, and her award-winning plays have been performed at San Diego Actors Alliance festivals. A frequent speaker on“Women in Science” panels globally, Ghosh also hosts cooking classes on Indian cuisine here in San Diego, focusing on the science and health behind those culinary treats. In 2024, Ghosh launched KhabaarCo, a curated literary conversation and salon around food, our roots, social justice, and our words. She can be reached at @writemadhushree.
HUDA AL-MARASHI writes for both children and adults. She is the author of the middle grade novel Hail Mariam and a co-author of the Walter Dean Myers Honors award-winning novel Grounded. In addition to her memoir First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story, she has contributed essays and op-eds to various anthologies and news outlets, such as the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, and al Jazeera. She is a fellow and mentor with the Muslim Storytellers Program at Boyds Mill, formerly known as the Highlights Foundation.
