Negotiating Civilisations through Food: Swami Vivekananda's Travel Writings and the Question of Cultural Identity

Abstract

: Food constitutes one of the most powerful yet understudied cultural markers through which societies articulate identity, negotiate difference, and construct systems of value. In the nineteenth century, dietary practices frequently functioned as sites where questions of religion, social hierarchy, colonial power, and cultural self-definition intersected. Swami Vivekananda's extensive travels across India, Europe, and North America exposed him to diverse culinary traditions and enabled him to develop a distinctive comparative understanding of civilisation. While existing scholarship has extensively examined his contributions to nationalism, religion, education, and social reform, relatively little attention has been paid to the significance of food in his travel writings, letters, and lectures.

This paper investigates the role of food as a crucial component of Vivekananda's cultural philosophy and argues that culinary discourse occupies a central position in his understanding of civilisational encounter. Through his observations on vegetarianism, meat consumption, caste-based food restrictions, hospitality, bodily discipline, and intercultural dining practices, Vivekananda developed a nuanced framework for interpreting the relationship between East and West. Rather than endorsing rigid dietary orthodoxy or embracing Western food practices uncritically, he advocated a pragmatic and context-sensitive approach grounded in human welfare, physical vitality, and social responsibility.

Drawing upon food studies, travel-writing scholarship, postcolonial theory, and cultural history, the paper demonstrates that food functions in Vivekananda's writings as a medium through which larger questions concerning nationalism, colonial discourse, spirituality, modernity, and intercultural ethics are negotiated. His reflections challenge colonial stereotypes regarding Indian dietary practices while simultaneously critiquing social stagnation and ritualism within Indian society. More importantly, they reveal a thinker attempting to reconcile cultural rootedness with global engagement. The study ultimately contends that Vivekananda transformed everyday discussions of food into profound reflections on identity, civilisation, and human coexistence, thereby anticipating contemporary debates concerning cultural diversity, globalisation, and ethical intercultural dialogue