Indian Delights-First Edition

Indian Delights, The Women's Cultural Group, Durban, Book of Recipies on Indian Cookery, 1976, first edition, fourth impression, hardcover, 310 pages, condition: very good.

For decades, South Africans aspiring to make the perfect biryani have turned to Indian Delights, the best selling cookbook produced by Zuleikha Mayat and the Women's Cultural Group. This group of women, who were formally excluded from both political and customary power, nevertheless forged a vibrant citizenship and public life for themselves. In the midst of unfolding global and local transformation "apartheid, feminism, doctrinal shifts in Islam " the members of the Women's Cultural Group were themselves agents of change, not only within the local communities that benefited from their proficient and varied labours, but in the making of South African modernity. 

Although this book is the standard South African Indian Cook Book, the back story is that it was produced by this activist vibrant community who had a wider impact.