Indulge in your passion for literature and cuisine at a unique book club where we combine the love of reading with the love of food! Each month, we'll dive into a new book and eat delicious snacks inspired by its themes. From fiction to non-fiction, our diverse selection of books will spark lively discussions as we share our impressions, thoughts, and interpretations. Don't miss out on this opportunity to bond with fellow book-lovers over a shared love of literature and food.

“Women were built to endure the rules men make,” Parini Shroff writes in her debut novel, “The Bandit Queens,” which covers a litany of grim realities in rural India: poverty, hunger, alcoholism, domestic violence, sexual assault and a caste system, to name a few. This might sound depressing, but Shroff manages to spin all of the above into a radically feel-good story about the murder of no-good husbands by a cast of unsinkable women.

The leader of the pack is Geeta, whose abusive husband, Ramesh, abandoned her five years earlier without so much as a goodbye.

To make sense of her lot in life, Geeta has adopted as her guiding light Phoolan Devi, a young woman who became known throughout India as the “Bandit Queen” after she killed 22 men — her tormentors and rapists — in a single day. Part historical figure, part legend, Phoolan completed her jail sentence and became an activist and member of Parliament before being assassinated at age 37. To Geeta, she is an inspiring example of a woman who managed to wrest control of her life: “The Bandit Queen didn’t wait for help, she was help.”

We will be making Indian Chai and Crispy Murmura to accompany our discussion of the book.

NOTE:
Registration is required and there is a $5 charge for this class.

Food for Thought: A Culinary Book Club