1Shanthiroad Cookbook

For the last two and half years, minus COVID, I have cooked for a bunch of strangers and they have cooked for me. We come together in one home to eat what we cook separately, together.

It is a potluck, as you might have guessed, but better, because it is also a book club. Each month, we choose one single cookbook to cook from and our reviews are both oral and visceral.  

The strangers are of course friends now, and as such, I will always associate the cookbook with kinship and memories.

Part studio, part gallery, part residency, 1Shanthiroad is an established and much loved artspace in Bangalore founded by artist and art historian Suresh Jayaram. The space employs a welcoming open house policy, with food being central to the many connections fostered in its seventeen year history. 

A month ago they launched their first cookbook with Reliable Copy, a publishing house focused on works, projects and writings by artists. The resulting 1Shanthiroad Cookbook is a tome and testament to how food unites, with a dizzying number of contributors, each individually credited, sharing recipes they have prepared and partaken in the space.

We chatted with Suresh and Reliable Copy founders Nihaal Faizal and Sarasija Subramanian to learn everything we could about the making of the cookbook.  

How did this book come about?

Reliable Copy: Like most projects that come out of 1Shanthiroad, the idea to put together a book of recipes that are rooted in this space began from a discussion around the dinner table. As the conversation moved to a hurried sharing of a few recipes, Pushpamala N, an artist and frequent collaborator at 1Shanthiroad, casually mentioned how a cookbook should be compiled — an idea that was then taken all too seriously and that grew into an eighteen month long preoccupation for both 1Shanthiroad and Reliable Copy. 

Suresh Jayaram: 1Shanthiroad turns 18 next year, and the past two decades have been an extraordinary journey of an art space and residency that has sustained itself despite all odds. Food is intrinsic to 1Shanthiroad; it is the catalyst that triggers conversation in our open kitchen and occupies residents and visitors during their visits or long stays. 

I keep an open house and feed anyone who passes through; it is like a sarai or a langer where the making of food and conversations about art and culture are a community ritual. The idea of the book came with the need to research, publish and celebrate this community spirit of 1Shanthiroad.

How would you describe the collection of recipes in this book? 

Reliable Copy: The ideal way to describe the recipes would be a quote from the editor’s introduction. It reads, “(the book) reflects the diversity of people who have passed through the doors of 1Shanthiroad in terms of culture, geography, and sensibilities. Inevitably, this has meant a smorgasbord of flavours, textures, ingredients, and methods…(the pages of which are also) peppered with the quirks, philosophies, biographical digressions, and even diktat-like directions of the authors.” And truly, that is what makes it a cookbook like no other.

You both also contributed recipes to the book. How have you been previously involved with 1Shanthiroad?

Reliable Copy: Both of our initial interactions with 1Shanthiroad and Suresh Jayaram started with us being artists in residence at the space (Nihaal in 2015 and Sarasija in 2018). Since then these relationships have grown — as most do in 1Shanthiroad — to being akin to an extended family of friends. In turn, Suresh has also always been a large part of Reliable Copy, serving as an advisor from the start, and currently engaged as one of the trustees of the organisation.

Suresh Jayaram: Nihaal and Sarasija are aware of what happens at 1Shanthiroad behind the scenes. They have cooked, eaten, and watched this alternative space serve as a home away from home. In the same way, the recipes come from living and working here, understanding the dynamics of the kitchen, and the relationships introduced by everyone who cooks or brings food to 1Shanthiroad.

What are the myriad ways the other contributors of the book have interacted with the space?

Suresh Jayaram: The contributors range from my own family (my sister who lives next door) to artist friends who have been a part of the space’s history. The book is also a homage to my mother, her generosity of spirit, and the joys I learnt from her of both cooking and feeding others.

What was the brief then that you sent out?

Suresh Jayaram: The brief sent out requested one or more recipes they may have cooked or shared at 1Shanthiroad, or others that may be close to them for familial or socio-cultural reasons and that they would like to introduce to our kitchen table. They were also asked to share photographs, drawings, notes, anecdotes, and any other material relevant to these recipes. As opposed to more experimental cookbooks, our goal remained simple — to compile a cookbook that was ultimately one that could be followed and used, and to that end we requested a clear set of instructions towards the making of a specific dish.

A few months ago, you had a very unique fundraiser for the book of a series of embroidered works featuring motifs from the kitchen. 

Suresh Jayaram: The pandemic put many things on hold. The artist's residency had stopped and Mohana, our resident cook and manager, was impatiently stuck at home. Having often encouraged her to be creative and having once hosted an exhibition of her work, I decided to occupy her with this collaboration, tracing with embroidery lines drawings that I made on cotton cloth of objects around 1Shanthiroad. When Nihaal and Sarasija saw these embroidered pieces, they invested in the idea of a fundraiser that can support the production of the book, as well as bring in some extra funds for Mohana. 

Once the fundraiser was planned, the drawings became more thematic towards the cookbook — bringing together objects, utensils, and ingredients from the kitchen that then came together to create compositions that rarely remained just still lifes.

Could you tell me more about the art on and in the cookbook?

Suresh Jayaram: The two debossed images on the covers — the pressure cooker and the mixer grinder — are images taken from the drawings I did for the fundraiser; both Gods of an Indian kitchen!

The annapakshi motif that forms the pattern in the endpaper is from my mother's wedding saree; a mythical bird that is revered for its ability to separate pure milk from a solution of milk and water — a metaphor for its ability to choose truth over falsehood, virtue over sin, and real over make-believe, and thus an inspiration for both the space and the book.

The illustrations that populate the book’s pages are by the artist Akshay Sethi, representing my odd collection of crafts, antiques, and kitchen implements that are very much part of the look and feel of 1Shanthiroad (and that often have unique stories about being found serendipitously from the street or brought from junk markets).

Reliable Copy: Akshay’s collaboration with us began serendipitously while we were collecting recipes, and he was an artist in residence at 1Shanthiroad. This chance overlap led to him becoming central to the process and his illustrations add yet another layer of meaning to the book’s pages.

The 1Shanthiroad Cookbook is Reliable Copy’s fourth project and third printed publication. What goes into making a book?

Reliable Copy: It is hard to locate one cohesive process, owing to the inherent differences in the publications we have worked on. So far, our publications have started with us being interested in artistic practices that we have come across, and then taking them forward with the artist to develop a manuscript of sorts. Of course, being a two-person team automatically makes us the editors, the administrators, the copy-editors, the distributors and the producers all at once, with individuals with their own expertise stepping in as life-rafts along the way.

With Chinar Shah’s ‘A Memorial for the New Economy’ the project was about envisioning an artwork as a copyleft publication that functioned within spaces of circulation outside of the gallery. Ravikumar Kashi’s research behind ‘Flexing Muscles’ was initially presented by him as lectures on the subject, which he then developed into a manuscript for and with us. Mario Santanilla’s ‘Still Life -mirrors and windows-’ was conversational from start to finish, which changed many forms and formats before finally materialising as a paperback book. Design also runs parallel to the writing and editing, and the designer for all our publications so far, Roshan Shakeel, becomes an invaluable part of the process of being able to visualise the content at hand as an eventual publication itself.

More specifically, what were the unique aspects and challenges of creating The 1Shanthiroad Cookbook?

Reliable Copy: The 1Shanthiroad Cookbook’s greatest challenge — and greatest asset — has been working with 75 contributors from across continents, each bringing in their own dutiful instructions, idiosyncratic flavours and (often) singular expertise. 

Anita Rao Kashi, the book’s consulting editor rose to the challenge and worked with us during the last editorial phase, bringing in her own methods to shape the narrative and make the book easy to follow and use, without sacrificing on the individuality of the contributors and their narratives. 

Suresh Jayaram: It was sometimes stressful chasing contributors for little details, but in retrospect the process was delightful. It was like a family putting together a big fat Indian wedding!

We also have a copy of the wonderful 1Shanthiroad book published by VAC, and stocked by Reliable Copy. Can you say more about that book?

Suresh Jayaram: This book was originally planned to be published to mark 10 years of 1Shanthiroad, but delays in the process led to it coming out towards the 12th year. It marks the various programmes and projects that had taken place at 1Shanthiroad till then, and brought together essays by various individuals that have been significant to the space and its legacy. 

Incidentally, the book was put together by Roshan Shakeel, who also designed the cookbook. This was his first book project, while he was still a student at Srishti, and he was recommended by his classmate and friend Nihaal Faizal — still very much the same team, missing only Sarasija Subramanian who made her appearance at 1Shanthiroad only a few years later. 

The 1Shanthiroad Cookbook is available in eight hardcover options in four colours and with two debossed image variations through Reliable Copy’s mail order catalogue and other online retailers.

Follow 1Shanthiroad and Reliable Copy on instagram.

A special thanks to Roshan Shakeel for the WIP images.