How can you not love a book that begins with aloo bhorta, that spicy mashed potato concoction that sets the tone of the novel. It's ostensibly a simple dish, but filled with all sorts of ingredients and nuances that sets it aside from the commonplace -- I'm talking about both the bhorta and the book here!
Set in the US, the novel Appetite revolves around a young woman, perched somewhat precariously on the threshold of her career. Precariously, because she is breaking away from the South Asian mould of studying to be a doctor or engineer or any such "respectable" profession, and ventures into the world of gastronomy. This is Zarina, the central character of the book, who we find in the kitchen of the restaurant Zero's where she may still be at a sous chef level, but she certainly knows her thyme from her tarragon. And she never loses a chance to throw in a bit of her Bangladeshi culinary skills, like when she impresses chef Anna Callahan by jazzing up a rather bland fish dish and conjuring up shorshe salmon with a dash of mustard. Zarina places Chef Callahan on a pedestal and praise from her means the world.
And here comes the parallel part of Zarina's life and, indeed, of the novel. Just as she is passionate about cooking and views Anna with awe, there is a whole other world that consumes her attention. This is Wrestle Thunder Ground, better known to fans as WTG. It's kinda like WWE (formerly WWF), but for women wrestlers. And Zarina's obsession is with the wrestler Sierra Myst, flamboyant and arrogant as these wrestlers are wont to be. (Perhaps a cross between Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin of the classic WWF era!)
In creating this fictitious wrestling federation WTG, the young author P Paramita actually reveals an interesting social change. Back in the days of the WWF manosphere, women wrestlers were used as gimmicks to attract crowds. Here they are an established part of professional wrestling, on par with their male counterparts.
Also interesting is how she readily accepts that these wrestling matches are scripted and expresses her appreciation by drawing up an analogy between this sport and cooking:
"Knowing someone was crafting these stories for me made me fall even deeper in love. Creating a successful wrestling match is very much like creating the perfect dish. Finding the right rivalry, the perfect storyline, getting audience attention by trial and error of mixing up different wrestlers in the ring reminds me of picking out the right ingredients, getting the perfect flavor combination, and tasting the marriage of a mixture of perfectly calibrated flavors."
Replete with Twitter (she stubbornly refuses calling it X) interactions of the Sierra Myst fandom, the book builds up the craze of the near frenzied fans and even the reader gets caught up in the wave of adulation and excitement when Zarina actually gets to interact with her idol Sierra, first on social media and then in real life!
Zarina is steadily sucked more and more into the heady world of fandom. While she is still a dedicated chef, we see how being a Sierra Myst follower places demands on her time and energy. She is charmed by Sierra, grateful to have her attention and is quite blind to the possibility that she, as an "influencer" is being used as a tool to further the star's stardom.
P Paramita is adept at drawing up parallels. We see the inevitable jealousies in Zero's kitchen as well as among the Sierra Myst followers. There is also a contrast between the two women she admires so much -- Chef Anna Callahan is kind and level-headed, an appreciative mentor. Sierra Myst is wild, outrageous, the all-out star who can be charming to the hilt.
There is something endearing about Zarina. She may be rebelling, not heeding her parents' dreams of "greater things" for her, but nostalgia does kick in from time to time. While squeezing lime over her food and mixing her rice and dal, she transported back home when she was just a child and her mother would cajole her into eating by making little balls of rice -- "This is a parrot's egg. This is a magpie's egg." Ironically, phone calls with her mother predictably end up with her mother saying, "How much longer are you going to waste your time playing chef?"
Zarina has been rooted in Bangladesh, not in any jingoistic or overt manner, but in small things. Asserting her Bangladeshi taste in food, rejecting Sierra's blanket perceptions of her being Indian, seeking out a sweet shop in Jackson Heights...
Zarina goes through a bit of introspection. It dawns on her that at home her worth is determined by whether she has a medical degree or not. Online her worth is how much attention she can muster from Sierra Myst. She feels invisible, easily replaceable. But becoming visible seems like a faraway dream.
She does have a dream of opening a Bengali fusion restaurant, but a futile dream at the moment as it means an investment she cannot afford. There is a glimmer of hope when chef Anna shows interest. Anna is the rock she needs, telling her, "I believe in you."
Her pride in being a Bengali is also revealed when she is explaining to a friend, "In Bangla we don't have gendered pronouns. It feels liberating." Ah, that's a great point to remember. We don't have the need to go onto all that pronoun rigmarole. Thanks, P Paramita, we knew that before, but now we are more conscious of it!
Back to the WTG world and Zarina herself is being thrust into a sort of parallel stardom as being perhaps the No.1 Sierra fan whom Sierra acknowledges and promotes. That comes with the barbs and acidic comments of the rival fans too, who call her clingy and desperate.
The story takes us through Zarina's choppy journey alternating between the glamorous tinsel world of WTG and the wholesome but challenging culinary world.
When the reader sees Zarina's relationship with Sierra Myst gradually disintegrating, there is trepidation of hurtful disillusionment and humiliation. True, that is all there, but there is also a sense of pride and dignity where Zarina stands tall and refuses to be used by Myst. What is a skillful twist by the writer P Paramita, is that she doesn't make Sierra into the stereotypical bad woman. She makes her human, a women with her fair share of heartbreaks and it is Zarina who chooses to firmly end the relationship.
The biggest adrenaline rush is not the fighting in the ring or the wrestling championship. It is Zarina fighting against all odds, lining up with true friends (yes, Anna is one of them -- we were so anxious of a fall out in that friendship!) and finally opening up a restaurant of her own. ROOT. What an appropriate name. Throughout the novel Zarina has been rooted in Bangladesh, not in any jingoistic or overt manner, but in small things. Asserting her Bangladeshi taste in food, rejecting Sierra's blanket perceptions of her being Indian, seeking out a sweet shop in Jackson Heights and so many other small details.
Somewhere at the outset of the book Zarina had said, "The secret of a good aloo bhorta is the marriage of five ingredients: potatoes, mustard oil, ghee, chillis and red onions." That seems to be the secret of P Paramita's book Appetite. A dash of desperation, a pinch of passion and dollop of dedication... and voila! A story that whets our appetite for her next book!