This week James and Luke are meeting Sujay Sohani and Subodh Joshi, co-founders of Sri Krishna Vada Pau – or SKVP, the acronym given to the chain by the restaurant’s followers on social media. Tapping into the current trend for vegetarian and vegan food, as well as for affordability, the Vada Pau – or the Mumbai burger, as it’s sometimes referred to – celebrates the street food of the pair’s native Mumbai.

**Introduction**(0:00 – 5:06)

(Starter)

James and Luke introduce Sujay Sahani and Subodh Joshi, the founders of Shree Krishna Vada Pav.

**Interview** (5:07 - 24:05)

(Main)

Sujay and Subodh discuss the importance of originality and authenticity in their recipes.

**Post interview discussion** (24:06 – 29:50) ?

James and Luke discuss how SKVP is simultaneously attractive to South Asian as well as British audiences.

(Dessert)

**Closing Remarks and acknowledgments** (29:51- 30:20)

The Migration Menu has been brought to you by James Staples and Luke Heslop, with help from Tina Boulton, Esther Opoku Debra and Vimal Dalal. If you have any questions or comments for us, send them in and we will address them in a future show, you can get in touch at info@themigrationmenu.com. Or on ‘X’ - formerly Twitter: @migration_menu.

Restaurant location: 23 High St Uxbridge UB8 1JN

Menu dishes eaten:

Vada Pau

Chow Patty Chaat

Onion and Potato Bhaji

Sweet Chai

Menu: https://skvp.co.uk/#_menu

To see images for this episode, click here.

Literature mentioned:

Ray, K. 2016. Dreams of Pakistani Grill and Vada Pao in Manhattan: Immigrant Restaurateurs in a Global City, The Ethnic Restauranteur, Bloomsbury

For a list of academic literature on these topics and more, please see the list of extended bibliography on the references page or click here.

Guest speakers:

Sujay Sahani

Subodh Joshi

For more information, please visit our website: https://themigrationmenu.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, James and Luke are meeting and eating with Sanjay Anand, MBE: owner of Madhu’s of Southall, as well as six other restaurants, including Madhu’s of Mayfair at The Dilly. He documents his family’s journey from India to Kenya, where he was born, and on to the UK, where – over the last four decades – he has seen venue managers going from turning their noses up at the aromas of South Asian cooking to begging for more. Madhu’s high chai now outsells its traditional English counterpart in some of the UK’s most elite hotels.

**Introduction** (0:00 – 6:11)

(Starter)

Luke and James describe the historical migration and the integration of South Asians in East Africa.

**Interview** (6:12 – 25:43)

(Main Course)

Sanjay discusses how catering runs in his family. He then goes onto explain how Kenyan influences factor into his cuisine.

**Post interview discussion** (25:44 – 35:36)

(Dessert)

James and Luke outline the importance of authenticity replication in Madhu’s cuisine and how his twice migrant status affects how home is represented.

Anna explains the creation and practice of British citizenship.

**Closing Remarks and acknowledgments** (35:37 – 36:13)

The Migration Menu has been brought to you by James Staples and Luke Heslop, with help from Tina Boulton, Esther Opoku Debra and Vimal Dalal. If you have any questions or comments for us, send them in and we will address them in a future show, you can get in touch at info@themigrationmenu.com. Or on ‘X’ - formerly Twitter: @migration_menu.

Restaurant location: Madhu’s, 39 South Road, Southall, Ealing UB1 1SW England

Menu dishes eaten:

Kadai Paneer

Makhani Dal

Jeera Chicken

Chilli Paneer

Amritsari Machi

Niama Choma

Prawn

Machuzi Kuku

Menu: https://www.madhus.co.uk/our-restaurants/southall/

To see images for this episode, click here.

Literature mentioned:

Lester, A., Boehme, K., & Mitchell, P. 2021. Ruling The World: Freedom, Civilisation and Liberalism in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire, Cambridge University Press

Yanagisako, S. J. 2002. Producing Culture and Capital: Family Firms in Italy, Princeton University Press

Nijjar, J. S. 2021. Baptised by fire: an interview with Suresh Grover, Race & Class, 62(3), 88-101

El- Enany, N. 2020. Bordering Britain: law, race and empire, Manchester University Press

For a list of academic literature on these topics and more, please see the list of extended bibliography on the references page or click here.

Guest Speakers:

Sanjay Anand

Anna Tuckett

For more information, please visit our website: https://themigrationmenu.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, James and Luke go to the heart of Southall. On the first of two visits to Madhu’s, they meet Ash Verma, a business consultant and former civil servant who travelled to the UK from India with his parents when he was just 8-years-old in 1958, and who over the last 50 years or so has played key roles in supporting the regeneration of West London, and the socio-economic development of the UK’s South Asian community. Having grown up in his father’s own Indian restaurant, like other interviewees, Ash is acutely aware of the role food, and the knowledge of food brought from homelands, plays in the migrant’s experience.

**Introduction** (0:00 – 6:18)

(Starter)

James and Luke discuss globalisation occurs within South Asian contexts.

**Interview** (6:19 – 24:10)

(Main Course)

Ash describes how his affinity for food arose from his father’s cooking and the formation of his father’s restaurant.

**Post interview discussion** (24:11 – 29:09)

(Dessert)

James and Luke discuss Ash’s father, placing him in the context of the value of nostalgia in replicating home.

**Closing Remarks and acknowledgments** (29:10 – 29:45)

The Migration Menu has been brought to you by James Staples and Luke Heslop, with help from Tina Boulton, Esther Opoku Debra and Vimal Dalal. If you have any questions or comments for us, send them in and we will address them in a future show, you can get in touch at info@themigrationmenu.com.Or on ‘X’ - formerly Twitter: @migration_menu.

Restaurant location: Madhu’s, 39 South Road, Southall, Ealing UB1 1SW England

Menu dishes eaten:

Kebabs

Samosas

Chops

Tikki

Black lentils,

Spiced chickpeas,

Braised lamb,

Stir fried vegetables

Methi Murgh

Menu: https://www.madhus.co.uk/our-restaurants/southall/

To see images for this episode, click here.

Literature mentioned:

Barber, B. R. 1995. Jihad vs McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World, Times Books

Watson, J. L. 1997. Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia, Stanford University Press

For a list of academic literature on these topics and more, please see the list of extended bibliography on the references page or click here.

Guest speakers:

Ash Verma

For more information, please visit our website: https://themigrationmenu.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, James and Luke head to Southall for lunch at Saravanaa Bhavan, an international vegetarian Indian restaurant with branches in 27 countries across the world. They’re going there for lunch with Mukesh Gauthaman, whose ambitious project to reintroduce some of heirloom to his home village in Tamil Nadu and has brought him to the UK to study international business at Brunel. Saravanaa Bhavan offers both work and food from home.

**Introduction** (0:00 – 6:20)

(Starter)

James and Luke introduce Mukesh Gauthaman.

They also discuss how Southall acts as a region of projected homeland for South Asian diaspora.

**Interview** (6:21 – 15:49)

(Main Course)

James and Gauthaman discuss what foods they enjoy, Gauthaman ties this back to agriculture.

**Post interview discussion** (15:50 – 29:14)

(Dessert)

Dr Devanshi Chanchani shares her experiences and views of how Saravanaa Bhavan operates in India and how it has propelled authentic South Indian food into the mainstream.

James and Luke review this and discuss how restaurants like Saravanaa Bhavan showcase localised foods in a globalised way.

**Closing Remarks and acknowledgments** (29:15 – 29:50)

The Migration Menu has been brought to you by James Staples and Luke Heslop, with help from Tina Boulton, Esther Opoku Debra and Vimal Dalal. If you have any questions or comments for us, send them in and we will address them in a future show, you can get in touch at info@themigrationmenu.com. Or on ‘X’ - formerly Twitter: @migration_menu.

Restaurant location: Saravanaa Bhavan, 97 South Rd, Southall UB1 3AG

Menu dishes eaten:

Rasa Vada

White Rice

Hot Idly with Sambar and Chutneys

Business Meal- Limi

Menu: https://saravanabhavanlondon.co.uk/southall/

To see images for this episode, click here.

Literature mentioned:

Baumann, G. 1996. Contesting Culture: Discourses of Identity in Multi-ethnic London, Cambridge University Press

Nasser, N. 2004. Southall’s Kaleido-scape: A study in the changing morphology of a west London suburb, Built Environment, 30(1), 76-103

Srinivas, T. 2015. Everyday Exotic, Transnational Space, Identity and Contemporary Foodways in Bangalore City, Food, Culture & Society, 10(1), 85-107

For a list of academic literature on these topics and more, please see the list of extended bibliography on the references page or click here.

Guest speakers:

Mukesh Gauthaman

Devanshi Chanchani

For more information, please visit our website: https://themigrationmenu.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, James and Luke went to Al Hyderabadi, on the Uxbridge Road, a busy thoroughfare which stretches from Uxbridge all the way to Southall. While Hyderabad – centre of the Mughal Empire in India’s Deccan South – is famous for the biriyani, we discovered that its dishes also owe a great deal to centuries of pan-oceanic trading and migration, and a particular connection to Yemen.

**Introduction**- (0:00 - 7:03)

(Starter)

James and Luke explain the expansive relationship of migration between the Arab world and South Asia, forming rich histories of cultural hybridity creating foods like an Indo-Arabian cuisine.

**Interview** (7:04 – 20:51)

(Main)

Sid discusses how select foods act as a symbol of national and home identity.

Mujeeb explains the Hyderabadi and ancient Mughal connection of the dishes.

**Post interview discussion** (20:52- 27:29)

(Dessert)

James and Luke discuss how Al Hyderabadi replicates Muslim Hyderabadi eating practices, with the menu and commensality reflecting this.

**Closing Remarks and acknowledgments** (27:30 – 28:07)

The Migration Menu has been brought to you by James Staples and Luke Heslop, with help from Tina Boulton, Esther Opoku Debra and Vimal Dalal. If you have any questions or comments for us, send them in and we will address them in a future show, you can get in touch at info@themigrationmenu.com. Or on ‘X’ - formerly Twitter: @migration_menu.

Restaurant location: Al Hyderabadi Mandi Biryani 1074 Uxbridge Road, Hayes UB4 0RJ England

Menu dishes eaten:

Sweet Chilli Chips

Masala Fish

Lamb Mandi

Chicken Biryani

Menu: https://alhyderabadi.co.uk/

To see images for this episode, click here.

Literature mentioned:

Brouwer, C. G. 2004. Pepper merchants in the booming port of al-Mukha: Dutch evidence for an oceanwide trading network. Die Welt Des Islams, 44(2), 214-280

Schoff, W. H. 1912. Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

Mukherjee, A. 2017. Gulf Migration and the Flows of Social Remittances: A Study of Barkas in Hyderabad, Sociological Bulletin, 66(1), 91-103

Willis, J. M. 2009. Making Yemen Indian: Rewriting the boundaries of Imperial Arabia, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 41, 23-38

Osella, C. & Osella, F. 2010. Food, Memory, Community: Kerala as both ‘Indian Ocean’ Zone and as Agricultural Homeland, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 31(1), 170-198

For a list of academic literature on these topics and more, please see the list of extended bibliography on the references page or click here.

Guest speakers:

Siddiqui Mohammed Shoeb

Mujeeb Mohammed

For more information, please visit our website: https://themigrationmenu.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, James and Luke travel to Namaste Gurkha in Feltham to examine how Nepalese food has been reimagined in West London. In doing so, they speak with Indra Hang Linden, one of the proprietors of Namaste Gurkha.

**Introduction** (0:00 - 3:41)

(Starter)

-James discusses how globalization has affected what South Asians now eat for breakfast.

-Luke delves into how restaurant décor factors into authenticity and showcases homeland.

**Interview** (3:42 -17:18)

(Main)

-Indra discusses representations of Nepalese food, as well as how authenticity can be achieved.

-Indra discusses how his Nepalese restaurant is marketed as Indian due to similar dishes.

**Post interview discussion** (17:19 - 24:49)

(Dessert)

-James and Luke review the role of Nepalese food in creating feelings of nostalgia and nationhood for migrants.

**Closing Remarks and acknowledgments** (24:50 - 25:27)

The Migration Menu has been brought to you by James Staples and Luke Heslop, with help from Tina Boulton, Esther Opoku Debra and Vimal Dalal. If you have any questions or comments for us, send them in and we will address them in a future show, you can get in touch at info@themigrationmenu.com. Or on ‘X’ - formerly Twitter: @migration_menu.

Restaurant location: Namaste Ghurka, 1 Parkfield Parade, Feltham, Hounslow TW13 4HJ England

Menu dishes eaten:

Nepali Vegetarian Thali,

Vegetable Momo and tomato chutney

Chana Chatpate

Bhatmas/Badam Sandeko

Fermented Bamboo shoots

Menu: https://www.namastegurkharestaurants.co.uk

To see images for this episode, click here.

Literature mentioned:

Ray, K. 2004. The Migrants Table: Meals and Memories In Bengali- American Households, Temple University Press

Buettner, E. 2009. Chicken Tikka Masala, flock wallpaper and “real” home cooking: assessing Britain’s “Indian” restaurant traditions, Food and History, 7(2), 203-229

Pilcher, J. 2016. The Embodied Imagination in Recent Writings on Food History, The American Historical Review, 121(3), 861-887

For a list of academic literature on these topics and more, please see the list of extended bibliography on the references page or click here.

Guest Speakers:

Indra Hang Linden

For more information, please visit our website: https://themigrationmenu.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.