The Chile is my uncle: Spicy kinship between humans and more-than-humans in the Sikkimese Himalayas

Abstract

The eastern Himalayan red and green round chiles, known as akubari in the Sikkimese Bhutia Lhokyed language and dalle khorsani in Nepali language, have recently become popular commodities across India. However, they are not only commodities. This article contributes to Indigenous and posthuman approaches to food studies by interrogating the ways that akubari function as kin in rural west Sikkimese cultural contexts. Akubari is a grown from the land and seen as a family member that provides nourishment, sustenance, healing, and flavor for human and more-than-human beings in the region. Even the name “akubari” invokes kinship as a spicy uncle. This article draws on ethnographic research from west Sikkim, local medical and folklore traditions, and textual research into Buddhist and Indigenous ritual texts to demonstrate the many layers of being that akubari invokes beyond its status as a commodity. This demonstrates how local ways of knowing food contribute to food sovereignty in Himalayan, Northeast Indian, and global settings.

Keywords:

• Akubari/dalle khorsani Chile
• agriculture
• food sovereignty
• forest foraging
• Himalayan Buddhism
• Indigenous food studies
• kinship
• northeast India
• posthuman food studies
• Sikkimese Himalayas

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to all the humans and more-than-humans who contributed to this work, including akubari, my chile-loving families in Sikkim and Aotearoa, and the more-than-human forces of our forests and fields; fellow chile-loving scholars including Bhoj Kumar Acharya, Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa, John Lang, Dolly Kikon, Charisma K. Lepcha, and Jayeeta Sharma; and the editor Carole Counihan and peer reviewers for their helpful and constructive guidance. This research was supported by a Robert H. N. Ho Research Fellowship in Buddhist Studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In this article, I have used the spelling chile in order to recognize the historical roots of chiles in South America.

2 Non-English terms will not be italicized in this article as a way to challenge English language dominance, especially in scholarship that centers Indigenous food sovereignty in non-English language settings.

3 Names in this article are pseudonyms to protect the privacy of people who spoke to me in the course of this research unless otherwise noted.

4 Thanks to Bhoj Kumar Acharya for details on this species and for sharing his article, Acharya et al. (2017).

5 For insights on food offerings in another Buddhist context, see Van Esterik (1985).

6 Another famous, fierce kin member is “Ajo Tag,” Grandfather Tiger. Tigers used to roam the forests of Sikkim, but are now extremely rare. However, they are also treated with great respect as grandfathers and co-residents of the region.