Dr Tarana Husain Khan is a writer and food historian based in Rampur, India with a passion for exploring the intersection of gender, history, culture, and oral history.

Her publications include the historical fiction The Courtesan, Her Lover and I (Hachette India) and the bestselling debut novel The Begum and the Dastan. Her critically acclaimed Degh to Dastarkhwan: Qissas and Recipes from Rampur(Penguin Random House India) explores the culinary history of Rampur. She has co-edited and contributed to Forgotten Foods: Memories and Recipes from Muslim South Asia (Pan Macmillan India) and contributed to the anthologies Desi Delicacies (Pan Macmillan India) and Dastarkhwan: Food Writing from South Asia and Diaspora (Beacon Books, UK).

She was a fellow at the MacCormack (formerly Tin House) Winter online workshop 2026.

Her research papers have been published in Global Food History Journal and Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies. Her writings based on extensive research on the oral history and culture of the erstwhile princely state of Rampur have been published in prominent media outlets such as Al Jazeera, Eaten Magazine, Scroll, Bruit, Open Magazine, The Wire, and in the anthologies Desi Delicacies (Pan Macmillan, India) and Dastarkhwan: Food Writing from South Asia and Diaspora (Beacon Books, UK). Tarana curated the popular ‘Forgotten Foods’ series for Scroll.in.

She worked as a Research Fellow and Consultant at the University of Sheffield on an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project, ‘Forgotten Food: Culinary Memory, Local Heritage and Lost Agricultural Varieties in India’ (2019-2024).

She is currently the Area Editor for the South Asian Cuisine journal of Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Food Studies.

Her ongoing research promises to shed light on gender, food and oral history.