Food and Connection Series: How Food Kept a Sri Lankan Family Connected Across Continents with Dr.Thurka Sangaramoorthy

Diasporic Connection is on the table today

On the 8th episode of our On the Table with Ashley series, we are joined by Thurka Sangaramoorty. Thurka Sangaramoorthy is a cultural and medical anthropologist and public health researcher with 22 years of experience conducting research among vulnerable populations in the United States, Africa, and Latin America. Dr.Sangaramoorthy is a professor and chair of The Department of Anthropology at American University. Thurka is the author of the books, Treating AIDS, Rapid Ethnographic Assessments, and Landscapes of Care.

Thurka joins us to share the story of her family, who fled the Sri Lankan Civil War in the 1970s and sought asylum in the United States, exploring how food became a way to remain connected to their roots, their homeland, and one another.

Dr.Sangaramoorthy opens up about researching her own family and discovering how food allows traditions to be preserved and transformed, while also shaping gender and familial roles and protecting a sense of connection to home.

Together, Ashley and Thurka explore how the food we make and share can carry stories of migration, identity, belonging, and resilience, and how, sometimes, a recipe can hold an entire family history.

Learn more about the work of Thurka Sangaramoorthy.

Read Food as Care: Stories of Forced Displacement and Connection

by Thurka Sangaramoorthy.

Research The Public Ethnogrophy Lab.

Read Crying in HMart by Michelle Zauner.

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On the Table with Ashley is presented by Âme Atendre, a luxury home goods and tableware brand with a mission to connect people to all that matters.