‘The Kolis Have Understood the Sea as a Shifting Community of Beings’: Mukta Patil on the Launch of Eating Against the Tide at Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest
Mumbai’s relationship with the sea is deeply intertwined with the lives of its Koli fishing communities, whose livelihoods, food traditions and cultural identities are increasingly under pressure from rapid urbanisation, ecological changes and the climate crisis. Eating Against the Tide: Stories, Recipes, and Research from Mumbai's Coastline , a book by The Locavore , documents this changing…
The Kolis have come to view the sea as a dynamic community of living beings, reflecting their own shifting relationship with the ocean. Mukta Patil, the writer and editor behind the book Eating Against the Tide, shed light on this evolving connection ahead of the book's launch at Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest on October 25.
The central idea behind the book stemmed from the Mumbai Koli Project, a storytelling initiative that aimed to highlight the Koli community's relationship with the sea and draw attention to the challenges they face due to urbanization, ecological changes, and the climate crisis.
As the project progressed, Patil noticed a shift towards urban pressures like rapid industrialization, coastal construction, and the encroachment of the city into the coastal areas. These changes, she explained, are more detrimental to the Koli fishing livelihoods than the direct impact of the climate crisis. The looming threat of irreversible shoreline transformations has made fishing increasingly difficult, regardless of the resources available in the water.
Koli food traditions, seasonal seafood, and the associated knowledge offer a window into the community's unique bond with the sea. The Koli people value specific species based on their availability throughout the year, which is reflected in their recipes and cooking methods. For instance, Bhavesh Koli, the founder of Mi Hi Koli, a restaurant dedicated to authentic Koli cuisine, recounts waiting eagerly for nevti (mudskipper) during the Ganpati festivities.
Similarly, Prachita Koli, also known as Kolinbai on Instagram, remembers relishing Tisrya (clams) prepared as a special Sunday meal with her family. The Koli approach to the sea is one of understanding it as a community of diverse beings rather than a static resource.
Written by urgent.news from Free Press Journal's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
