This week, James and Luke travel the length of the Uxbridge Road to Shepherd’s Bush, where they join Professor Magnus Marsden – a fellow anthropologist with fieldwork experience in Afghanistan, as well as with Afghanis in the diaspora – for a tour of the market and a long lunch at the market street stall, Takharistan, run by his friend Zakhir. Closer to home – still on the Uxbridge Road, but back in Hayes – they enjoy another Afghani meal with owner Khalid and his younger brother at Shiraz, a former pub called The Adam and Eve, and now a halal restaurant.

**Introduction** (0:00 – 6:29) 

(Starter) 

James and Luke discuss the position of Afghanistan in South Asia, and why most anthropologists and historians of the region contest orientalist representations of the country as a barren, in-between place.

**Interviews** (6:29 – 13:48) 

(Main Course)  

After an orientation to Shepherd’s Bush, Professor Magnus Marsden talks us through the market and its historic links to Afghanistan.

(13:48-22:00)

James, Luke, and Magnus meet Zakhir for lunch at his food stall, Takharistan.

(22:00-28:40)

James and Luke visit Shiraz, on the Uxbridge Road, for another Afghani meal, with Khalid and his younger brother. They tell their own migration story from Afghanistan when the Taliban came to power.before coming to London and establishing their own eateries.

**Post-Interview** (28:40 – 33:04) 

(Dessert) 

Replete from both meals, James and Luke sum up the important role that food plays for the Afghani community in London, and reflect on what they have learned about Afghanistan.

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Menu

Food eaten at Takharistan:

·      Pulaw (fried rice with dates, carrots, and spices)

·      Okra

·      Goat curry

·      Mantu (meat stuffed pasta dumplings)

Food eaten at Shiraz:

·     Salad of lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and cucumber, with lemon juice and sumac

·     Afghan lamb tikka

·     Chopan lamb kebab

·     Chilli paneer

·     Afghani naan

·     Aushak (vegetarian pasta dumplings)

·     Banjan Borani (aubergine dish)

Literature mentioned:  

Barfield, Thomas. (2022). 2022. Afghanistan: A cultural and political history (2nd edition). Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Bayly, C. A. (2004) The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Green, Nile (2022) How Asia Found Herself: A Story of Intercultural Understanding. Yale: Yale University Press.

Hanifi, Shah Mahmoud (2011). Connecting Histories in Afghanistan. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Haroon, Sana (2007). Frontier of Faith: Islam in the Indo-Afghan Borderland. London: Hurst and Co.

Marsden, Magnus. (2021). Beyond the silk roads: trade, mobility and geopolitics across Eurasia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stewart, Rory (2004). The Places Inbetween. London: Picador.

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