The Cooking of India

by Matthew Locricchio

The Regions of India and How They Taste

The cuisine of India, with its fragrant spices and diverse cultural and religious influences, has been thousands of years in the making. Family recipes have been handed down for generations, so often the best food is found not in restaurants,but in someone's home where sharing food is an expression of hospitality. When entering a family's home in India, you are likely to be offered something to eat as a way of welcoming you. It is regarded as rude to refuse it.

But the cooking of India and its impact extend far beyond the home. The history of Western civilization is tied to its spices. For centuries, explorers headed for India's shores to obtain the highly prized exotic spices. Along the way, they discovered new worlds and hastened the spread of ideas. Still it was securing the valuable spices that was one of their primary goals. Spices not only helped preservefood but also ultimately changed the cooking of the rest of the world. Slowly other cultures discovered that by adding spices foods became more flavorful, and the world's cuisines were never the same.

India is a large agricultural nation, marked by a diversity of regions, traditions, languages, and religions. This diversity has played a significant role in the development of its cooking. For simplicity, the nation will be divided into two main regions, the north and the south. Come along as we explore each and someof the tempting dishes made there.