Along Tamil Nadu’s southeastern coast, the Gulf of Mannar is more than a stretch of water. Coral reefs and seagrass beds give way to fishing settlements, salt pans and a parched hinterland. Twenty-one islands sit offshore. Palmyra grows inland. Rice, millets, and pulses sustain the drylands. The sea provides fish, shellfish, and seaweed, along with the methods of drying, fermenting and preserving them.

Chef Gokul Kumar Mohit, better known as Goku, set out to understand this interconnected food geography for MSK (formerly Magazine St. Kitchen)’s IP, Uncharted India’s The Gulf of Mannar edition, a 12-course tasting menu at their revamped space in Byculla. A Culinary Institute of America graduate and co-founder of Chennai-based Tamil Quarter, Goku works around regional Tamil and indigenous Indian cuisines. For this menu, he went to fishermen, home cooks, artisans, and Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to understand its social history. Here, among other things, he learnt that the tuna in your sushi is most often caught off India’s southeastern coasts, and that seaweed used in Korea’s skincare and food industries is, too.