PALATES OF PRIVILEGE: THE COMMODIFICATION OF FOOD AND THE NEGOTIATION OF PERSONAL INSTINCTS IN SHAMSIE’S SALT AND SAFFRON

Abstract

In Salt and Saffron, food functions as more than nourishment it becomes a powerful symbol of ancestry, identity, cultural continuity and personal desires. This research explores how food, as both a cultural marker and a commodified good, reflects the novel’s central themes of tradition, modernization, social expectations and personal desires. Drawing on Mintz’s theory of food as a commodity and Lacan’s psychoanalytic framework of desire, the study examines how traditional foods, once rooted in familial and ethnic identity, are transformed by global capitalist systems into status symbols and marketable goods. Mintz’s perspective reveals how dishes and spices lose their localized significance, becoming recontextualized within global markets, thus mirroring broader socio-economic shifts. At the same time, Lacan’s theory illuminates how food in the novel reflects deeper emotional needs and unconscious desires, particularly around identity, belonging, and memory. Characters engage with food not merely to sustain themselves but to cope with feelings of displacement, longing, and fragmented lineage. Food becomes a medium through which they express personal and collective memory, negotiate social roles, and confront the tensions between heritage and globalization. The thematic analysis shows that eating choices and culinary instincts are deeply entwined with emotional expression and the search for selfhood. Ultimately, the study highlights how Salt and Saffron uses food to explore the intersections of personal identity and global commodification, revealing how traditional practices are reshaped by modern forces while still serving as vessels for memory, desire, and cultural belonging.