#KargilBeyondTheWar – Understanding The Region Through Food | Online Talk by Yash Saxena, Muzammil Hussain and Sneha Nair: Talk 337
Kargil is often encountered through the lens of war, borders, and geopolitics. But beyond the battlefields lies a complex cultural landscape shaped by mountains, migration, religion, trade, ecology, and generations of movement across the Himalayas. At our Online Talk #KargilBeyondTheWar, Yash Saxena, Muzammil Hussain and Sneha Nair explore Kargil through three interconnected lenses: place, people and food. Together, they examine how the landscape and its harsh ecology, its communities and histories, and its position at the crossroads of the Himalayas have shaped what people grow, forage, cook, and eat. From ancient foodways to wartime disruption and changing aspirations, they examine how geopolitics eventually finds its way into the kitchen, and reveal a Kargil that exists far beyond the war.
About the speakers
Yash Saxena is a traveller, storyteller, and mountaineer whose work moves between food, art, and identity. He has studied Food Anthropology and Food History under Prof Pushpesh Pant and Dr Kurush Dalal, and has conducted courses on food history, philosophy, identity, and culture. He is the author of “Stories from a Kargili Kitchen,” the result of three years in Kargil, where he lived, listened, and cooked alongside its people, tracing the region's foodways, philosophy, and the quiet beauty of everyday life.
Muzammil Hussain is a climber, trekker, wildlife enthusiast, and Kargil native. He is the co-founder of Roots Ladakh, a travel company focused on responsible tourism and changing the narrative of Kargil from a conflict zone to a place of culture and adventure. He has been featured twice in Condé Nast Traveller – as one of the “50 Amazing Ambassadors of Sustainable Travel” and among the “50 People to Know in the Himalayas.” In 2023, Muzammil received the Gold Award for Grassroots Hero at the Outlook Traveller Indian Responsible Tourism Awards.
Sneha Nair is a cultural researcher and writer whose work explores the lived experiences, histories, and everyday narratives of communities across India. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology from SOAS University of London. Her fieldwork has taken her to cultural archives and community spaces across the country and her work frequently explores the intersection of culture, place, and identity in everyday life, whether through craft, memory, migration, media, or foodways.