Food in the Domain of Politics: Importance of Food-gifting and Dining in Political Discourse

It is a very old saying in the Indian subcontinent that ‘dil ka rasta pet se ho kar jata hai’ (the easiest way to win hearts and minds is through the stomach). Well, this was never limited to winning a beloved’s heart. In politics, this rule has always been used for creating and fostering long-term relationships and in defining such relationships through symbolism and subtle messaging. From gifting food to nobles and other rulers by premodern kings to the diplomatic banquets arranged by modern diplomats, food has always been used as a soft power to influence political relations.  

In recent times, scholarly interest has been drawn towards the use of food as a medium to promote the soft power of a nation. Soft power is a concept in modern diplomacy which is defined as the use of non-coercive elements like culture, political values, and ideologies to influence other people or other nations rather than using ‘hard power’ like military or economic coercion (Nye 84). The term coined for it is ‘culinary diplomacy’ or ‘gastrodiplomacy’. It leverages the power of food to connect with people from different cultures and promote mutual understanding, respect, and cooperation. The underlying idea is to consider food as a universal language and sharing a meal as an intimate and meaningful way to connect with people. By sharing its cuisine, a country can promote its culture and values, create positive impressions, and foster long-term relationships. The culinary legacy of a country is presented as an informal ambassador for attracting international populaces (and their governments) towards its socio-cultural and traditional context,  to engender a favourable global reputation. 

Signs of culinary diplomacy in Indian political history go long back even before there was any name for it. Rulers across the country and across the time use food to win hearts and minds. This article dives into Mughal sources to present a case study of food-gifting and commensality to discuss the political symbolism and meanings associated with food in the political arena. 

The reasons for focusing on the Mughal rule are simply the sheer institutionalisation of gifting that took place under Akbar and second, the way Mughal sources talk about the various aspects of gifting in their sources. For instance, Jahangir in his memoir always makes estimates of the value of the gifts given and received. He extensively discusses the monetary aspects of gifting by giving the exact value of gifts given or received by him (Mukhia 101).  

 

Feasting and Food-Gifting in Mughal Period

 

Gifting is one of the crucial aspects of every human culture. Anthropologists usually give four functions of a gift, which are communication, social exchange, economic exchange, and socialisation. Marcel Mauss in his influential work The Gift, argued about the complex nature of gifting in pre-capitalist societies. According to him, gifting transcends economic exchange or monetary value and functions in a cycle of compulsory obligation of ‘give’, ‘receive’, and ‘return’ (Mauss).    

The functioning of the gift economy and how relationships formed based on gifting, provides important insights to understand the hierarchies of a given society. On Mughal gifting traditions, one of the initial works was done by Harbans Mukhia in his The Mughals of India. He was able to trace the instances of gifting in Mughal sources and depicted the subtle shades of hierarchies that were very much part of these gift exchanges. These hierarchies and power relations were not just visible in the context of the state but also present in gendered relations. For instance, Gulbadan Bano received 5000 coins and five horses from Khalifa and vizir of Babur on their first encounter when she was five years old. Vizier’s wife offered 3,000 coins and three horses to the young princess. Hierarchies were reflected in this incident as noble, although high in his position as Emperor’s Khalifa and vizir, was still inferior to a young female child of royalty; and his wife, though obliged to make a gift, could not equal or exceed her husband’s (Mukhia 102). It is in this discourse of gifting we need to understand the political meaning of food-gifting.  

Image 01: A banquet including roast goose given to Babur by the Mirzas (1507).

Source: A History of Mughal Cuisine through Cookbooks | The Heritage Lab 

 

Political gifting was a crucial feature of medieval Indian society. But it never was an obligation. It was only in the reign of Akbar, that gifting became obligatory. Akbar made it customary for anyone going to the court with a petition to attach a suitable gift to it (Mukhia 100). 

Mughal traditions of convivial feasting and gift-giving were a confluence of Timurid, Persian, and various indigenous customary practices. The gifting and sharing of food could at various times convey messages of friendship and goodwill, or of status and power. Some of the most common food products which were used in gifting were exotic fruits and sweets. Accounts of Tavernier and Thomas Roe depicted the significance of fruits that were sent. Roe mentions Asaf Khan sending him 20 musk-melon and inviting him for dinner (Roe 152) and Tavernier informs us that on his departure Shaishta Khan sent him a basket of apples (Tavernier 18-19). 

Fruits and sugar were kept at a high place in both Indian and Timurid traditions when it came to gifting. Jauhar Aftabchi, servant of Emperor Humayun, tells us that when Shah Husain Mirza wanted a truce with the emperor, he sent some sugar and fruits (Aftabchi 114). On another account, Aftabchi writes that when Emperor Humayun was in the territory of Maldeo, ruler of Marwar, he asked for help. Unable to provide assistance, Maldeo apologised and sent a bit of fruit (Aftabchi 105). In this case, the gift was evidently meant to sweeten a message that otherwise offered no succour. 

Hunted meat also had a particular significance when presented as a gift. Jahangir in his memoir gives us an elaborate account of the giving of hunted animals to nobles. Roe, for instance, mentioned an incident in his account where Emperor Jahangir gave him a very fat wild boar to eat saying that “he (Jahangir) kyld (killed) it with his owne hand, and that therefor I (Roe) should eate it merrily (merely) and make good cheare” (Roe 220). On another occasion, Roe narrates that Jahangir presented a half stag to him and said that Roe should eat half the stag, and see the other half bestowed on Jahangir’s wives, Jahangir had killed this stag himself (Roe 352). 

In his memoir, Jahangir also mentioned instances where he gave his hunted meat to feed the poor and needy. On one occasion, Jahangir ordered that the meat of a hunted nilgay be cooked as food for the poor. Almost two hundred people reportedly gathered to eat the meat, and Jahangir added that he distributed money amongst them with his own hands (Thackston 153). 

 

 

Image: Mughal Emperor Jahangir dispensing food at Ajmer, ca. 1620 or later. Opaque watercolour on paper. 3 1 .5 x 20.7 cm. The Prince of Wales Museum of Western India. 29.6257.

Source: Thackston, The Jahangirnama, p. 154.  

 

The meanings that gifting of hunted meat carried were slightly different. As hunting was seen as a virtuous act and the ability of the ruler to tame the beast and maintain the stability of the realm, sharing hunted animals is something like sharing a personal item. Hence, it also fits into the pattern of Mughal emperors bestowing their beneficence as was the case with bestowing a robe or khil’at to nobles (Narayanan 50). In both cases, the notion is similar, the emperor is sharing something personal to him with important nobles. 

Other items that were particularly valued as gifts included wine and the betel leaf or pān. Roe described pān-gifting as a traditional parting gift. But in Mughal court pān-giving and pān-taking had a very deep political meaning. David Curly wrote about the tradition of pān and its connection with authority. The pān ceremony symbolised the participation of the receiver, either by honouring or by subordinating while refusing means challenging the authority of the giver (Curley 51.)

Here it is important to keep in mind that the material value of the product is not important but its social value is more important as gifting and sharing of food could at various times convey different messages. The location, occasion, the mode of presentation of food and the nature of the food item itself, all had a bearing on the messages conveyed and the socio-political symbolism engendered. It is the political message within a particular context that was conveyed through food which defines the actual value of it.  For instance, in an alleged copy of a farmān issued by Shah Tahmasp I of Iran to the Governor of Herat concerning the arrangements to be made to welcome Humayun. What is striking about this farmān is the detailed attention that it devotes to food and feasting arrangements. Specific instructions appear to be issued as to the dishes to be served at Humayun’s party. A copy of this farmān was reproduced in Bayazid Bayat’s Tarikh-i  Humayun: 

Every day have ḥalwā and delicious beverages with white bread (nānhā-i safed) kneaded with oil and milk and containing caraway seeds, poppy seeds and nuts – the addition of which makes bread fine and wholesome (lat̤īf o nāfi) – prepared and delivered to the emperor, to the members of his retinue and to the servants of the court…when they arrive have served rose sherbet prepared with lemon syrup and chilled with ice and snow. After the sherbet have served marmalades of Mashhad apples, watermelon, plums etc. with white-flour breads (nān-hā-i safed maida) made in accordance with prior instructions, and try to have all beverages passed before the emperor’s sight, and have them mixed with rose-water and ambergris so that they will taste and smell good. Serve five hundred dishes of various foods everyday (Bayat 05).

The description may be an exaggeration and should not be taken literally. But what is important to us is that this farmān is not seen only as a sign of the Shah of Iran’s generosity and hospitality towards Humayun. The message here is the Shah’s treatment of Humayun as an equal in power and status even if he had lost all of his empire to Sher Shah Suri. It is because of this political messaging this document was continuously reproduced in the times of Akbar and Shah Jahan to reassert this narrative in the Mughal court that the Shah of Iran treated Humayun as a great sovereign and eagerly offered him assistance to regain his kingdom. 

 

 

Image 03: Shah of Iran with Humayun: Enjoying a feast and festivity.

Source: A History of Mughal Cuisine through Cookbooks | The Heritage Lab 

 

This tradition of food-gifting and conveying political messages through the dinner table continued. In modern times food gifting and more particularly a carefully planned state dinner become a key factor in foreign policy. There are many instances of food-gifting by Indian leaders to foreign diplomats as a gesture of goodwill or friendship or mostly to brand their culinary heritage at the global level. For instance, in 2000, then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee gifted American President Bill Clinton a box of Indian mangoes. In recent times, the emphasis on culinary diplomacy has increased.   

A good example of this is the dinner hosted by President Draupadi Murmu during the two-day G-20 summit that commenced in Delhi in September 2023. From the serving of the meals on silver and gold-plated utensils to focusing on millet-based cuisines as the year 2023 was dedicated to millet, there were many subtle political messages imbibed in the G-20 dinner. An entirely vegetarian menu was the highlight of the event. No meat-based cuisine was included in the G-20 dinner menu (“What’s on the menu for dinner hosted by President Murmu for G20 leaders”). This extra highlighting of India’s vegetarian culinary heritage has deep political messaging and is closely linked with India’s culinary diplomacy. India always branded itself as a crucial actor in the vegetarian movement and tried to highlight its contribution to plant-based lifestyle to the global platform. This can also be seen when Indian chef Vikas Khanna presented only veg dinner or sattvika cuisine when invited to cook at the White House in 2010 as well as in 2014 (Mukherjee). As the West witnesses waves of movements of vegetarianism and now turning more towards veganism, India’s relations with its plant-based diet always create a kind of sensationalism in the West. India is making moves to tape this in its favour.  

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Aftabchi, Jauhar. Tazkirat ul Waqiyat. Translated by William Thackston, vol. 01, Mazda Publication, 2009. 03 vols.

Bayat, Bayazid. Tarikh-i Humayun. Translated by William Thackston, vol. 02, Mazda Publication. 03 vols.

Curley, David L. “Voluntary Relationships and Royal Gifts of Pan in Mughal Bengal.” Robes of Honour: Khil’at in Pre-colonial and Colonial India, edited by Stewart Gordon, Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 50-79.

Mauss, Marcel. The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. Translated by W. D. Halls, Routledge, 2002.

Mukherjee, Anushka. “India & Culinary Diplomacy: How Food Plays into Politcs.” Homegrown, 08 June 2021, https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-explore/india-culinary-diplomacy-how-food-plays-into-politics. Accessed 3 June 2024.

Mukhia, Harbans. The Mughals of India. Wiley, 2004.

Narayanan, Divya. Cultures of Food and Gastronomy in Mughal and post-Mughal India. Heidelberg University, 2015.

Nye, Joseph S. Soft Power: The Means To Success In World Politics. PublicAffairs, 2004.

Roe, Sir Thomas. The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul, 1615-1619. Edited by William Foster, The Hakluyt Society, 1926.

Tavernier, Jean Baptiste. Travels in India. Edited by William Crook, translated by V. Ball, vol. 01, New Delhi, Low Price Publications, 200.

Thackston, Wheeler McIntosh, editor. The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India. Translated by Wheeler McIntosh Thackston, Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1999.

“What’s on the menu for dinner hosted by President Murmu for G20 leaders.” Indian Express, The Indian Express, 09 September 2023, https://indianexpress.com/article/india/g20-president-murmu-dinner-menu-8932530/. Accessed 2 June 2024.