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Influences in Modern Indian Cooking

January 20, 1998

The cooking of India can tell much about the peoples of the country. It indicates that India is the fusion of the west and the east, in the most delicate and subtle ways. Its traditions are deep, as are its tolerance of foreign cultures. Accompanying India on its journey through a long history of invasions and occupations are its traditions. These traditions, along with the foreign cultures that have entered the stage that we now know as India, have created the spectacular palette of foods we know as Indian cuisine. Not only has India retained its traditions of Hinduism throughout the millennia, but has learned to take advantage of the foreigners that saw what the native peoples of India have known all along, India¡¯s richness in culture and resources. Unlike other cultures of the world where foreign influence diluted the existing culture, the peoples of India have learned to use their foreign visitors to their advantage, to enrich their own cu lture. Among the art forms that have been so influenced is the ancient art of Indian cooking.

Actually, "Indian cooking" is too generic of a term and does not do justice to India¡¯s enormous diversity and variety. As much as the languages and traditions vary across the subcontinent, the cuisine varies even more. However, every bit of India¡¯s diversity has had a hand in changing the cuisine and improving the cuisine.

What most of the world knows of Indian cuisine is very little. This is due to the narrow focus of dishes in Indian restaurants across the world. They mainly serve North Indian cuisine, specifically, north Indian ¡®royal¡¯. This is because it was in Punjabi that the first restaurants opened. Since the Hindu religion disapproves of strangers cooking and serving their food (the food becomes "unclean"), it is only recently that restaurants (and grocery stores) have been present in India.(Jaffrey, 12) These first restaurants served some of the dishes that we are familiar with such as tandoori chicken, rogan josh, and butter chicken. These aren¡¯t dishes that people in India eat every day though. These are dishes that were reserved for royalty and the upper class at some point in recent history. However, this menu caught on, and thus has become the standard fare at most Indian restaurants across the world. It should be noted though that the agreed upon best Indian food in the world is not served in these restaurants, but in the homes of the people in India. It is in their kitchens that traditions are preserved and recipes passed on for many generations. The techniques and ingredients used in these kitchens vary from household to household and from region to region.

There are no borders that could be drawn in India to satisfactorily define the regions. The peoples of India differ in every aspect possible, from religion to language, to ethnicity. The most general boundary is that between north and south India. However, as there are ties that unite the peoples to the country of India, there are also similar ties that unite the food as well. For example, the palette of spices that the land offers is used throughout all of India, but the ways that they are used differ. The south likes to blend while and powdered spices together into a wet paste before incorporating them into a dish, while the people of the north tend to dry-roast their spices before adding them to a dish.

The south, in many ways, is considered more ¡®pure¡¯ than the north. This is because of the isolation from Moghul influence when the Moghul Empire stretched to northern India during the Middle Ages. What I mean by the south are the states of Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Most of the cuisine in the south is defined, in large part, by the climate of the area, and the produce that can be grown because of that. Coconut grows well, therefore the appearance of coconut milk and grated coconut in dishes is not the least bit surprising. Other crops that are abundant in the south, as is evident in use south Indian cooking, are tamarind, ginger, and curry leaves. In this region, rice is the staple diet. Aside from the spices, the south is also blessed with being near the sea, which is abundant in fish and shellfish on all sides of the subcontinent. Mouthwatering curries are prepared with a wide assortment of meats, vegetables and are finished off with the traditional temper ing of coconut oil fried curry leaves, mustard seeds and dried red pepper. Spices are abundant in the south. That is why the southern part of India was the heart of the spice trade for thousands of years.

In the north, bread is the staple starch in the diet, thus the variety of breads such as chappathi and pooris. The climate is more mild, dry, and cool which is ideal for growing wheat. Milk products are also more prominent in the north than in the south, including the use of cream, ghee, and paneer (homemade cheese). Tempering in the north is basically the habit of tossing in a pinch of garam masala to end the preparation of a curry. The Moghul influence in the north is also extremely evident, not only in its architecture, but in the cuisine. It is in various cities in northern India that one finds the most flavorful pilafs and melts-in-your-mouth kebabs. Regions of the north, such as Bengal to the west, are also blessed with a huge fish resource. In Bengal, fish are so common that even some strict Brahmins eat fish, or as the Bengalis call them, jal toori (fruit of the sea).

In order to study to foreign influence on Indian cuisine, there must be a base "pure" form of Indian cuisine that we can take. Some would say that the defining factor of Indian cuisine is its creative use of spices, others will claim that Hindu philosophy is the origin of modern Indian cooking. There is also the dilemma that each region has distinct cuisines of their own, which are different in and of themselves, therefore, it is difficult and unfair to see them all as one and analyze general influences on them as a whole. Because what we see as India is basically united by its people¡¯s devotion to Hinduism for all these thousands of years, I will consider that the foundation of Indian cooking, though it must be kept in mind that Hinduism is practiced differently in each region. However, in the end, it is the Hindu philosophy of cooking and eating that the large majority of Indians follow even at the present-day.

In this paper, I will attempt to paint a picture of the types of cuisines that are parts of modern Indian fare, as well as the influences in history that have helped shape that. First, the influences of religion will be covered from the base Hinduism to Judaism. I will then follow with the effects of foreign peoples that have visited, ruled, occupied, or escaped to India. These include travelers from the Americas, to Europe, to eastern Asia. I will then discuss a few states in India where these influences are most prevalent.

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