Book Review:

In a publishing landscape often crowded with hurried compilations and surface-level nostalgia, The Orissan arrives as something far more meaningful: a carefully curated tribute to Odisha’s living civilisation. More than a book, it is an immersive experience, rich in imagery, layered in memory, and rooted in the stories that define a people.

Co-authored by celebrated corporate telecom leader Sandip Das, noted food writer and photographer Alka Jena, and Sandip Das’ daughter Pallavi Das, who is based in New York, this 376-page hardcover coffee table volume is the result of more than two years of dedicated research, documentation, and storytelling that explores Odisha through food, faith, history, festivals, and landscape.

For too long, Odisha has remained one of India’s most underrepresented cultural powerhouses. Its magnificent temple architecture, maritime legacy, sacred traditions, classical arts, textiles, and deeply evolved cuisine have rarely received the national and global recognition they deserve.

The Orissan corrects that with grace and authority. Rather than presenting Odisha merely as a destination, the book presents it as a civilisation, one with extraordinary continuity, depth, and influence.

The book travels through the grandeur of the Kalinga empire, Odisha’s maritime history, temples, handloom heritage, landscapes, festivals, everyday meals and the enduring spirits of its people.

As a premium coffee table book, The Orissan delivers magnificently. With sweeping photography of temples, festivals, people, coastlines, textiles, and cuisine, it is designed not merely to be read but revisited.

One of the book’s strongest themes is the intersection of food and identity. Many books treat cuisine as a list of recipes. The Orissan recognises food as a living archive of culture, memory, and tradition.

In Odisha, meals are inseparable from seasons, spirituality, agriculture, caste histories, migration, and celebration. By placing cuisine within that wider social and historical context, the book elevates culinary writing into heritage writing.

That is rare and deeply valuable.

At a time when regional cultures risk being flattened into trends and stereotypes, books like The Orissan become essential. They preserve nuance, reclaim authentic narratives, and remind younger generations that their inheritance is not ordinary, it is extraordinary.

For Odias across the world, this book may feel like recognition and for non-Odias, it may feel like discovery.

The Orissan is more than a coffee table book. It is a statement of pride, a cultural archive, and an invitation to see Odisha with fresh eyes. It combines beauty with substance, and nostalgia with relevance.

As one of the first books of its kind on Odisha produced to international standards, it reflects the dignity, sophistication, and timeless grandeur of a remarkable civilisation. This is the kind of book that commands pride of place and invites readers back time and again.