Digesting Women's Unrestrained Appetites: Renegotiating Women's Desires in Select Folktales from Ramanujan's Folktales from India

The predominant socio-cultural representation of women as providers and nurturers of food within their families has historically constrained their identities, which find liberation in ‘little’ folk traditions. The research investigates the unconventional representation of women’s culinary and consumption practices in selected folk narratives from A.K. Ramanujan’s Folktales from India. The study employs a Feminist Food Studies lens to underscore the subversive employment of food motifs in women-centric folktales, which challenge the established patriarchal power structures within domestic households and unravel women’s hidden desires for sexual gratification to reclaim agency and power over their bodies. Through an in-depth examination of selected women's folk narratives, the research seeks to elucidate the pioneering role of folk literature in providing an alternative and non-conformist discourse on women's domesticity through food within mainstream socio-cultural traditions. Additionally, it comments on the contemporary pathological issues concerning women’s eating habits. This critical examination contributes to the growing discourse on the complex interplay of food, gender, power, and agency in Indian folk literature.