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Stories from a Kargili Kitchen

Stories from a Kargili Kitchen

Yash Saxena
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The untold story of Kargil—told not through war, but through food
Tucked between some of the most forbidding folds of the Himalayas, Kargil is a land too often seen only through the lens of war—yet its valleys hold a tenderness, resilience and faith that endure through food.

Born from years of travel, cooking and friendships, foodways researcher Yash Saxena gathers voices from mountain kitchens and firesides—of shepherds, monks, farmers and mothers who feed a world shaped by both faith and frost. From slow-simmering broths to shifting borderlines, from ancient Bon rituals to the echoes of Bofor gunfire, each story reveals how a community sustains itself through ritual, memory and the quiet grace of everyday cooking.

Blending memoir, travelogue and cultural history, this is part food book, part love letter and part act of remembrance—a tender, sensory journey through Kargili kitchens, whose flames fight to keep centuries of wisdom alive against the winds of change.

Imprint: Ebury Press

Published: Dec/2025

ISBN: 9780143476788

Length : 272 Pages

MRP : ₹999.00

Stories from a Kargili Kitchen

Yash Saxena

The untold story of Kargil—told not through war, but through food
Tucked between some of the most forbidding folds of the Himalayas, Kargil is a land too often seen only through the lens of war—yet its valleys hold a tenderness, resilience and faith that endure through food.

Born from years of travel, cooking and friendships, foodways researcher Yash Saxena gathers voices from mountain kitchens and firesides—of shepherds, monks, farmers and mothers who feed a world shaped by both faith and frost. From slow-simmering broths to shifting borderlines, from ancient Bon rituals to the echoes of Bofor gunfire, each story reveals how a community sustains itself through ritual, memory and the quiet grace of everyday cooking.

Blending memoir, travelogue and cultural history, this is part food book, part love letter and part act of remembrance—a tender, sensory journey through Kargili kitchens, whose flames fight to keep centuries of wisdom alive against the winds of change.

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback

Yash Saxena

Yash Saxena is a traveller, storyteller and mountaineer whose work moves between food, art and identity. Their practice blends storytelling, art and philosophy to understand how people find meaning in what they eat and create. In the search for the quiet meanings hidden in everyday life, they have taught, cooked, curated and created art to explore how communities hold memory through taste. Stories from a Kargili Kitchen is the result of three years in Kargil, where they lived, listened and cooked alongside its people—tracing the region’s foodways, philosophy and the quiet beauty of its people.

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