Following Fish

'Witty, alert, and wonderfully idiosyncratic, Following Fish is quite simply the best travel book to come out of South Asia since Suketu Mehta's Maximum City. Samanth Subramanian looks set to be one of the new stars of Indian non-fiction.' William Dalrymple In a coastline as long and diverse as India's, fish inhabit the heart of many worlds - food of course, but also culture, commerce, sport, history and society. Journeying along the edges of the peninsula, Samanth Subramanian delivers a kaleidoscope of extraordinary stories. Following Fish conducts rich journalistic investigations of, among others, the use of fish to treat asthmatics in Hyderabad; of the preparation and the process of eating West Bengal's prized hilsa; of the ancient art of building fishing boats in Gujarat; of the fiery cuisine and the singular spirit of Kerala's toddy shops; of the food and the lives of Mumbai's first peoples; of the history of an old Catholic fishing community in Tamil Nadu; and of the hunt for the world's fastest fish near Goa. Pulsating with pleasure, adventure and discovery, and tempered by nostalgia and loss, Following Fish reveals a series of unknown Indias in a book as revealing of the subcontinent as any three times its length.