Book Review: Author K Anis Ahmed's Carnivore explores the American dream in a biting collision of gourmet and grotesque
Author K Anis Ahmed presents the elite food scene of New York (US) in its brutal, capitalistic glory in the horror-fueled culinary fever dream titled Carnivore.
The worldwide panic of 2008 was quite the pin bursting the bubble of the American dream. In the smouldering aftermath of the financial crash, we meet the protagonist of Carnivore, Kash — a Bangladesh-born chef trying to carve out a niche for himself in New York’s elite food scene.
Kash is trying (and failing) to run his exotic-meat restaurant, which flops. As debts pile up, a brutal loan shark is (literally) knocking on his door and chopping off fingers. At this point, the desperate Kash makes a last-ditch attempt to break into the billionaire boy club with a degenerate appetite.
But does he make it or does he end up getting swallowed whole by this culinary fever dream? That’s what author K Anis Ahmed explores in this part culinary noir, part immigrant hustle fever dream. What begins as survival quickly morphs into something darker. As a reader, you are compelled to question just how far a seemingly ordinary person can be pushed under pressure, or worse, temptation. And who might they take down with them? That’s the burning question at the core of this fast-paced, deeply disturbing satire.
Ahmed writes with a sharp, almost surgical eye for the grotesqueries of power, privilege, and the capitalist food chain (both literally and figuratively). The humour is biting, the characters morally murky, and the plot dripping with tension. Every choice Kash makes feels both inevitable and chilling. There are laugh-out-loud lines, too; until you realise what you’re laughing at. The grotesque and the gourmet collapse into one. It is not for the faint-hearted and comes with a steep emotional cost.
{{/usCountry}}Ahmed writes with a sharp, almost surgical eye for the grotesqueries of power, privilege, and the capitalist food chain (both literally and figuratively). The humour is biting, the characters morally murky, and the plot dripping with tension. Every choice Kash makes feels both inevitable and chilling. There are laugh-out-loud lines, too; until you realise what you’re laughing at. The grotesque and the gourmet collapse into one. It is not for the faint-hearted and comes with a steep emotional cost.
{{/usCountry}}And right as you feel it goes too far, Ahmed grounds you with the texture and tenderness of Kash’s childhood in Dhaka. It’s a subtle and all too important reminder that this read is not just a high-stakes thriller — it’s a meditation on identity, immigration, and the disturbing yet delicious need to chase acceptance in a world built to exclude you.
{{/usCountry}}And right as you feel it goes too far, Ahmed grounds you with the texture and tenderness of Kash’s childhood in Dhaka. It’s a subtle and all too important reminder that this read is not just a high-stakes thriller — it’s a meditation on identity, immigration, and the disturbing yet delicious need to chase acceptance in a world built to exclude you.
{{/usCountry}}Title: Carnivore
Author: K. Anis Ahmed
Publisher: HarperCollins
Price: ₹499
