Swami Vivekananda

SANKAR (Author)
SANKAR (Mani Sankar Mukherji) is one of Bengal's most widely read novelists in recent times. He also has several non-fiction best-sellers, including a biography of Swami Vivekananda, to his credit. Two of his novels, Seemabaddha (Company Limited) and Jana Aranya (The Middleman), were turned into films by Satyajit Ray. He lives and works in Kolkata.

Malati Mukherjee (Translator)
Malati Mukherjee is a writer, translator and editor. She is a storyteller who has published Nature Songs of Tagore, a book of songs of Rabindranath Tagore translated from Bengali to English. She has edited (and part-written) a 200-page coffee table book, The Legendary Fr. E.H. McGrath SJ-Revered Teacher, Inspiring Forever. She has translated Bitan Chakraborty's novellas Redundant and Collapsed, which are awaiting publication. Malati runs Words and Space, a writing and editing service. Born in Dakshineswar, Malati now lives in Coonoor, in the Nilgiri hills of South India.

What did Swami Vivekananda recommend about the eating of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food?

Which of these did Swamiji enjoy the most: his mother's chorchori (a mixed vegetable delicacy), his father's pulao or his own khichuri?

Was he fond of spicy food, sweets, or ice cream?

During his days of hunger and want, for how many days at a stretch did Swamiji have to go without food?


Over the last 150 years, writings on Swami Vivekananda's culinary interests have intrigued a wide spectrum of people across the world. This includes hitherto unknown stories of his spreading the art of making pulao and khichuri along with his propagation of the Vedas, in the United States of America.

While many thinkers wonder at Swamiji's immense enthusiasm for teaching Indian cooking, yet it is not quite clear why no complete book about our culinary-enthusiast monk Vivekananda has ever been published in any language.

Swami Vivekananda: The Feasting, Fasting Monk is the humble, illumination of a thousand faceted diamond by Sankar.

This translation of Sankar's Bengali book throws light on Swamiji's culinary doctrine... and feasts upon a delectable part of his personality.While the first part of the book gives interesting insights into the history of food and cooking in Bengal, the second part of the book touches upon the deep relationship that developed between Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhansa and his chief disciple Vivekananda.