Proceedings of the International Conference on Emerging Food Studies: Intersections of Culture, Science and Sustainability (ICEFS 2026)

International Conference on Emerging Food Studies: Intersections of Culture, Science and Sustainability (ICEFS 2026)

📍Jaipur, India🗓️ 9-10 January 2026
<Previous Article In Volume
Next Article In Volume>

Food as Agency in Odia Folklore: Ritual, Transgression, and Power

Authors
Sulagna Mohanty1, *, Namita Mohanty2, Yantsubeni Ngullie3
1Department of Language, Culture and Society, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, India
2Department of English, Trident Academy of Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
3Department of Language, Culture and Society, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, India
*Corresponding author. Email: sulagnam@srmist.edu.in
Corresponding Author
Sulagna Mohanty
Available Online 30 June 2026.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-583-6_29How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Odia folklore; food as agency; ritual texts; cannibalism; power
Abstract

Food in Odia folk traditions is never a neutral presence; it becomes a marker of agency, survival, intimacy, and domination. Folktales, ritual texts, and oral narratives from Odisha often stage food as both sustenance and transgression where feeding, refusing, or consuming another becomes a site of power. In mythic tales, food mediates kinship and conflict; in ritual texts, it transforms into offerings that negotiate between human and divine realms; in darker strands of folklore, cannibalistic desire unsettles social order and dramatizes anxieties around scarcity, hunger, and morality. This paper undertakes a qualitative study of Odia folktales to explore how food operates as a cultural code that communicates values, fears, and resistances. By situating food within the intersections of ritual, gender, and power, the study highlights how Odia folklore renders the everyday act of eating into a profound symbolic act.

Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

<Previous Article In Volume
Next Article In Volume>
Volume Title
Proceedings of the International Conference on Emerging Food Studies: Intersections of Culture, Science and Sustainability (ICEFS 2026)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
30 June 2026
ISBN
978-2-38476-583-6
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-583-6_29How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Sulagna Mohanty
AU  - Namita Mohanty
AU  - Yantsubeni Ngullie
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/30
TI  - Food as Agency in Odia Folklore: Ritual, Transgression, and Power
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Emerging Food Studies: Intersections of Culture, Science and Sustainability (ICEFS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 317
EP  - 332
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-583-6_29
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-583-6_29
ID  - Mohanty2026
ER  -