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Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors
Curry serves up a delectable history of Indian cuisine, ranging from the imperial kitchen of the Mughal invader Babur to the smoky cookhouse of the British Raj.
In this fascinating volume, the first authoritative history of Indian food, Lizzie Collingham reveals that almost every well-known Indian dish is the product of a long history of invasion and the fusion of different food traditions. We see how, with the arrival of Portuguese explorers and the Mughal horde, the cooking styles and ingredients of central Asia, Persia, and Europe came to the subcontinent, where over the next four centuries they mixed with traditional Indian food to produce the popular cuisine that we know today. Portuguese spice merchants, for example, introduced vinegar marinades and the British contributed their passion for roast meat. When these new ingredients were mixed with native spices such as cardamom and black pepper, they gave birth to such popular dishes as biryani, jalfrezi, and vindaloo. In fact, vindaloo is an adaptation of the Portuguese dish "carne de vinho e alhos-"-the name "vindaloo" a garbled pronunciation of "vinho e alhos"--and even "curry" comes
from the Portuguese pronunciation of an Indian word. Finally, Collingham describes how Indian food has spread around the world, from the curry houses of London to the railway stands of Tokyo, where "karee raisu" (curry rice) is a favorite Japanese comfort food. We even visit Madras Mahal, the first Kosher Indian restaurant, in Manhattan.
Richly spiced with colorful anecdotes and curious historical facts, and attractively designed with 34 illustrations, 5 maps, and numerous recipes, Curry is vivid, entertaining, and delicious--a feast for food lovers everywhere.
In this fascinating volume, the first authoritative history of Indian food, Lizzie Collingham reveals that almost every well-known Indian dish is the product of a long history of invasion and the fusion of different food traditions. We see how, with the arrival of Portuguese explorers and the Mughal horde, the cooking styles and ingredients of central Asia, Persia, and Europe came to the subcontinent, where over the next four centuries they mixed with traditional Indian food to produce the popular cuisine that we know today. Portuguese spice merchants, for example, introduced vinegar marinades and the British contributed their passion for roast meat. When these new ingredients were mixed with native spices such as cardamom and black pepper, they gave birth to such popular dishes as biryani, jalfrezi, and vindaloo. In fact, vindaloo is an adaptation of the Portuguese dish "carne de vinho e alhos-"-the name "vindaloo" a garbled pronunciation of "vinho e alhos"--and even "curry" comes
from the Portuguese pronunciation of an Indian word. Finally, Collingham describes how Indian food has spread around the world, from the curry houses of London to the railway stands of Tokyo, where "karee raisu" (curry rice) is a favorite Japanese comfort food. We even visit Madras Mahal, the first Kosher Indian restaurant, in Manhattan.
Richly spiced with colorful anecdotes and curious historical facts, and attractively designed with 34 illustrations, 5 maps, and numerous recipes, Curry is vivid, entertaining, and delicious--a feast for food lovers everywhere.
352 pages, Paperback
First published August 4, 2005
172 people are currently reading
3,204 people want to read
About the author
Lizzie Collingham
5books62followersDr. Elizabeth M. Collingham is an English historian interested in linking the minutiae of daily life to the broad sweep of historical processes. Her first book, Imperial Bodies, explored the physical experience of the British raj and the way in which concerns about race and imperialism found expression in debates about physique and diet.
She studied at Sussex and Cambridge where she completed her PhD on the nabobs of the British Raj. She has lectured at Warwick University and been a reasearch fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge.
She studied at Sussex and Cambridge where she completed her PhD on the nabobs of the British Raj. She has lectured at Warwick University and been a reasearch fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge.
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March 18, 2025Overview of the history of Indian food. Obviously this is a massive subject and this book really just makes you feel how massive it is, with the vast regional, religious and cultural differences and the effects of successive waves of conquest, colonisation and cultural exchange starting with the Moghuls. Lots on the development of Anglo-Indian food, and on how mostly Bengali people developed what Brits now think of as 'curry'. I was staggered to learn that tea wasn't a big Indian drink till the late 19th century when it got a huge marketing push from the British-owned Indian Tea company to develop a home market. Wtf, talk about coals to Newcastle.
September 6, 2011
Some history books do not so much alter your worldview as fill your head with a plethora of interesting trivia, some of which you will spout at your friends for a few days, and most of which will disappear in a month or two. Regrettably, I think most of the interesting factoids I've learned from this book are doomed to such a fate.
The book is a little disjointed--I often felt as if the author was on the verge of a grand unifying theory but could not quite wrap her arms around it. Instead, it stumbles from one era to the next. Far more of the book had to do with European influences than I had expected; however, the Europeans started having a strong effect on the cuisine far earlier than I'd realized, so I suppose that's fair.
Some interesting, useless factoids I have learned:
- Chili peppers are native to the Americas and were introduced to Asia by the Portugeuse. It was the discovery of scotch bonnet chilis that convinced Columbus he'd found the Indies--he thought they were the source of black pepper, an entirely different plant native to India. Trinidad has adaEpted curries from Indian immigrants to use their native scotch bonnets instead of some of the other chili varieties used in India, bringing the transfer full circle.
- British food used to be quite spicy--the Middle Ages featured enormous quantities of cinnamon, black pepper, and other spices, as well as sweets mixed with savories. The rise in prestige of French cooking and the pallid imitation of it led to the bland-i-fication of British cooking. Early British officers and merchants in India embraced Indian cooking--it wasn't until the rise of middle class values and of canning that they switched to preferring socially prestigious but wretched tinned British imports to native dishes. So British cooking wasn't always that wretched--social snobbery made it so, despite the best efforts of the world to help them.
- The word "factory" comes from the warehouses of British textile agents, or factors.
- Most of the "Indian" restaurateurs (perhaps as many as 90%) are actually Bangladeshi, from one specific reason, due to some peculiarities of immigration laws and labor shortages. Most of the food we're accustomed to thinking of as "Indian" is a Britishized version of Mughlai cooking. But given the incredible cross-pollination of cultures, identifying an "authentic" Indian cuisine is basically impossible. It's always been adapted and tampered with by foreigners and conquerors.
Lots of other fun facts abound. Also, quite a lot of recipes, which are helpful in charting some of the changing styles, but I doubt will result in many meals. (Some of the ingredients sound rather hard to come by outside of India, while some of the instructions or measurements, especially of older recipes, are rather archaic and difficult to understand.)
It would help a great deal if you go into the book with at least a framework of Indian history in mind. In the times and places which I was already familiar with, I had a much easier time following what was going on than those with which I was less familiar.
The book is a little disjointed--I often felt as if the author was on the verge of a grand unifying theory but could not quite wrap her arms around it. Instead, it stumbles from one era to the next. Far more of the book had to do with European influences than I had expected; however, the Europeans started having a strong effect on the cuisine far earlier than I'd realized, so I suppose that's fair.
Some interesting, useless factoids I have learned:
- Chili peppers are native to the Americas and were introduced to Asia by the Portugeuse. It was the discovery of scotch bonnet chilis that convinced Columbus he'd found the Indies--he thought they were the source of black pepper, an entirely different plant native to India. Trinidad has adaEpted curries from Indian immigrants to use their native scotch bonnets instead of some of the other chili varieties used in India, bringing the transfer full circle.
- British food used to be quite spicy--the Middle Ages featured enormous quantities of cinnamon, black pepper, and other spices, as well as sweets mixed with savories. The rise in prestige of French cooking and the pallid imitation of it led to the bland-i-fication of British cooking. Early British officers and merchants in India embraced Indian cooking--it wasn't until the rise of middle class values and of canning that they switched to preferring socially prestigious but wretched tinned British imports to native dishes. So British cooking wasn't always that wretched--social snobbery made it so, despite the best efforts of the world to help them.
- The word "factory" comes from the warehouses of British textile agents, or factors.
- Most of the "Indian" restaurateurs (perhaps as many as 90%) are actually Bangladeshi, from one specific reason, due to some peculiarities of immigration laws and labor shortages. Most of the food we're accustomed to thinking of as "Indian" is a Britishized version of Mughlai cooking. But given the incredible cross-pollination of cultures, identifying an "authentic" Indian cuisine is basically impossible. It's always been adapted and tampered with by foreigners and conquerors.
Lots of other fun facts abound. Also, quite a lot of recipes, which are helpful in charting some of the changing styles, but I doubt will result in many meals. (Some of the ingredients sound rather hard to come by outside of India, while some of the instructions or measurements, especially of older recipes, are rather archaic and difficult to understand.)
It would help a great deal if you go into the book with at least a framework of Indian history in mind. In the times and places which I was already familiar with, I had a much easier time following what was going on than those with which I was less familiar.
January 19, 2020
Despite the intuition that its quasi-offensive title was merely intended for marketing purposes, the title turns out to be fairly apt as you make your way through the book.
For starters, 'curry' (a loanword from the Tamil, which simply meant 'spicy') was never a thing for Indians, it was a British imposition on a complex and varied food culture that they had neither the capacity nor the inclination to fully assimilate, adopting the word to refer to any spicy broth. Curry then became the chief symbol for British attempts to domesticate Indian food, being the impetus for Anglo-Indian cuisine, and eventually making its way back to Britain where it enjoyed its heyday in popularity during the Victorian era. Curry also has its modern signification in British pub culture, again highlightng how far from its native shores (and how mutated it had become), Indian food had travelled.
With a single astutely chosen word, the author thus demonstrates the intermingling of two diametrically opposed cultures, brought together through colonialism and the compulsions of global trade, the misunderstandings, false appropriations and creative combinations resulting from this, as well as the continuing after effects of this potent combination - truly, a tale of "cooks and conquerors".
The author begins by noting what Naipaul himself once noted about Indian history, that it is a long and sordid account of one invader after the other, and deduces for the readers' benefit, that what we consider "Indian cuisine" today is, firstly a misnomer (a motif that the author bookends the text with, noting that the subcontinent is riven with complex but localized food traditions, and furthermore, Indian cuisine differs with the innumerable castes and communities present) and secondly, insofar as we can talk about an Indian cuisine, then most of the classic dishes, and even some of its fundamental ingredients, are not Indian at all, but foreign importations.
I was pleasantly surprised at the author's ambition of elucidating the complex evolution of Indian society and culture through the eras of invasion and imperialism and into modernity, through the prism of food. Her approach of naming the chapter after an emblematic food, and then exploring the history, politics and transmutation of that food into its modern avatar, did justice to her ambition. (Of course I should not have been surprised, given that the author is a Cambridge-trained historian)
For example of this approach, the second chapter of the book, 'Biryani', is not simply an account of the dish and the various ways of preparing it - rather, it begins with the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Timur, who initiated an era of Indian history that combined the best of the Central Asian nomadic culture of which he had partaken of during his exile, the refined Persian culture which he felt most in tune with, and the North Indian Hindustani culture which he himself despised but which was adopted by his successors. It was this fusion that resulted in Mughal culture, and in microcosm, in Mughal cuisine (which, in the eyes of the rest of the world, is taken as emblematic of Indian cuisine as a whole), the prime example of this cuisine being biryani.
This approach is carried throughout the book ; each chapter, whilst ostensibly focusing on a foodstuff, uses this focus in order to reveal the broader panoply of social and cultural turbulence that birthed the dish.
This is a good book for fans of Indian cuisine, those who want a culinary-infused history of India from the 16th century thereabouts, and maybe even those who enjoy a light sociological analysis of food.
For starters, 'curry' (a loanword from the Tamil, which simply meant 'spicy') was never a thing for Indians, it was a British imposition on a complex and varied food culture that they had neither the capacity nor the inclination to fully assimilate, adopting the word to refer to any spicy broth. Curry then became the chief symbol for British attempts to domesticate Indian food, being the impetus for Anglo-Indian cuisine, and eventually making its way back to Britain where it enjoyed its heyday in popularity during the Victorian era. Curry also has its modern signification in British pub culture, again highlightng how far from its native shores (and how mutated it had become), Indian food had travelled.
With a single astutely chosen word, the author thus demonstrates the intermingling of two diametrically opposed cultures, brought together through colonialism and the compulsions of global trade, the misunderstandings, false appropriations and creative combinations resulting from this, as well as the continuing after effects of this potent combination - truly, a tale of "cooks and conquerors".
The author begins by noting what Naipaul himself once noted about Indian history, that it is a long and sordid account of one invader after the other, and deduces for the readers' benefit, that what we consider "Indian cuisine" today is, firstly a misnomer (a motif that the author bookends the text with, noting that the subcontinent is riven with complex but localized food traditions, and furthermore, Indian cuisine differs with the innumerable castes and communities present) and secondly, insofar as we can talk about an Indian cuisine, then most of the classic dishes, and even some of its fundamental ingredients, are not Indian at all, but foreign importations.
I was pleasantly surprised at the author's ambition of elucidating the complex evolution of Indian society and culture through the eras of invasion and imperialism and into modernity, through the prism of food. Her approach of naming the chapter after an emblematic food, and then exploring the history, politics and transmutation of that food into its modern avatar, did justice to her ambition. (Of course I should not have been surprised, given that the author is a Cambridge-trained historian)
For example of this approach, the second chapter of the book, 'Biryani', is not simply an account of the dish and the various ways of preparing it - rather, it begins with the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Timur, who initiated an era of Indian history that combined the best of the Central Asian nomadic culture of which he had partaken of during his exile, the refined Persian culture which he felt most in tune with, and the North Indian Hindustani culture which he himself despised but which was adopted by his successors. It was this fusion that resulted in Mughal culture, and in microcosm, in Mughal cuisine (which, in the eyes of the rest of the world, is taken as emblematic of Indian cuisine as a whole), the prime example of this cuisine being biryani.
This approach is carried throughout the book ; each chapter, whilst ostensibly focusing on a foodstuff, uses this focus in order to reveal the broader panoply of social and cultural turbulence that birthed the dish.
This is a good book for fans of Indian cuisine, those who want a culinary-infused history of India from the 16th century thereabouts, and maybe even those who enjoy a light sociological analysis of food.
September 5, 2007
I thought this was a good book and worth the read if you're an Indophile, but I do have some criticism.
Collingham gives us a quick and dirty history of curry, which ends up of being the history of India, the spice trade, imperialism and colonialism (particularly the British colonization of the region), as well as the immigration of Indians to Britain and the Americas. Obviously, that's much to cover in one 250+ page book ... too much to cover.
I felt like I was being whisked through a historical timeline, only allowed the bullet points.
There are some nice anecdotes, particularly early on and later on in the book, but there was no real connection. Though Collingham obviously knows her stuff, she doesn't make you feel India.
Still worth a read, though. Loved the addition of recipes!
Collingham gives us a quick and dirty history of curry, which ends up of being the history of India, the spice trade, imperialism and colonialism (particularly the British colonization of the region), as well as the immigration of Indians to Britain and the Americas. Obviously, that's much to cover in one 250+ page book ... too much to cover.
I felt like I was being whisked through a historical timeline, only allowed the bullet points.
There are some nice anecdotes, particularly early on and later on in the book, but there was no real connection. Though Collingham obviously knows her stuff, she doesn't make you feel India.
Still worth a read, though. Loved the addition of recipes!
July 22, 2015
A solid three. Lizzie Collingham describes what has already been proven in other areas, such as language, religion, and traditions -- that South Asian cuisine is ever-evolving, influenced by so many who have come through and conquered the subcontinent over hundreds and hundreds of years. So many fascinating details - the relatively recent arrival of what are now ubiquitous Indian ingredients, such as tomatoes, onions, and chillies. One of the more interesting factoids - that the British successfully introduced tea into India only in the 1930s, within my grandparents' lifetime. Tea became a quintessential component of Indian culture only in the last century.
Lizzie Collingham went on a few tangents, but what bothered me more was that she sugarcoated the British Raj experience in India and the British back home in the UK a bit, and really didn't call them out as racists until the last chapter. I'm sure there is a darker story underneath all of this exchange of food, the treatment of "Hindoo" cooks, and farmers that this book didn't really delve into.
One interesting part of this book was the inclusion of recipes - new and old. I may try some of them. I'll likely skip the 800 year old recipe for roasted black rat - I'm sure I wouldn't do it justice.
Lizzie Collingham went on a few tangents, but what bothered me more was that she sugarcoated the British Raj experience in India and the British back home in the UK a bit, and really didn't call them out as racists until the last chapter. I'm sure there is a darker story underneath all of this exchange of food, the treatment of "Hindoo" cooks, and farmers that this book didn't really delve into.
One interesting part of this book was the inclusion of recipes - new and old. I may try some of them. I'll likely skip the 800 year old recipe for roasted black rat - I'm sure I wouldn't do it justice.
Want to read
January 3, 2016Lise digs it and it does look awesome.
August 11, 2014
This is an easy read filled with fun facts as it traces the development of Indian food. I can't think of a more fascinating cuisine than Indian, shaped by regional tastes, religious concepts of purity, and new ingredients introduced by foreigners.
Three snippet facts which interested me most in this book:
1. The idea that foods grown in the native soil imbue the strength and energy of that soil to the eater.
2. The Indian origins of Worcestershire sauce and how it was 'invented'.
3. How at the beginning of the 20th century, the vast majority of Indians were not tea drinkers and regarded it as simply an herbal remedy/medicine. I can't imagine an India without its daily and multiple cups of chai. Fascinating how the Tea Association sought to win the Indian market, the ingenious tactics they employed, and how they ultimately triumphed.
Three snippet facts which interested me most in this book:
1. The idea that foods grown in the native soil imbue the strength and energy of that soil to the eater.
2. The Indian origins of Worcestershire sauce and how it was 'invented'.
3. How at the beginning of the 20th century, the vast majority of Indians were not tea drinkers and regarded it as simply an herbal remedy/medicine. I can't imagine an India without its daily and multiple cups of chai. Fascinating how the Tea Association sought to win the Indian market, the ingenious tactics they employed, and how they ultimately triumphed.
August 11, 2017
A savory book about the savory dishes of subcontinent! It was Finger licking good! :D
January 26, 2020
What a delightful surprise this book turned out to be! It was on my To Read list for a while, simply because it promised to detail the history of Indian cuisine and the search for authenticity. Lizzie Collingham not only delivered on that promise, but served it with a dose of cultural relativism that is even more relevant today than it was twelve years ago when the book was published.
Americans as a whole are vastly ignorant of the history of the subcontinent save for maybe a romanticized version of the British colonial period and the Raj. Collingham uses dishes that Western foodies are familiar with to explore and illustrate India’s long history of cultural fusion that accompanied their evolving political eras, going back to the 15th century. Interwoven in the obvious discussion of history are highlights of the ingredients available to both the colonizers and the local natives at the time, and the way each prepared their foods using those ingredients.
There are a few places in the book where the narrative becomes a bit dry and bogged down with names and dates and battles to be won; in that respect, it sometimes reads too much like a history book and if you aren’t familiar with Indian history it can quickly become confusing. But overall, Collingham writes in a conversational, easy to digest voice that, at times, made me wish I was listening to her instead of just reading.
But this book is more than just a history of food. Collingham also addresses the racism, both blatant and subtle, inherent in the colonizer/colonized situation with regards to food, it’s preparation, and it’s acceptance. It’s an eye-opening discussion to which those of us not exposed to that racism due to geographic considerations don’t give much thought. But she brings it into the present day onto the global stage. Going forward I will be more aware of the accommodations the restaurants and their employees are willing to make, and the often unfair expectations those of us who patronize them harbor.
The takeaway from the book is that the search for an authentic Indian cuisine is like the search for an authentic India which, even today, after 70 years of independence, remains elusive. Much like the US, India is more a union of diverse regions and tastes, as opposed to being one distinct cuisine/culture. That search for authenticity is a false judgment passed by those more interested in touting their own experience than upholding and highlighting a heritage and those traits which make a culture and a people unique.
(Ithink I’m gonna pass on the recipe for Roasted Black Rat, though. Just sayin�.)
Americans as a whole are vastly ignorant of the history of the subcontinent save for maybe a romanticized version of the British colonial period and the Raj. Collingham uses dishes that Western foodies are familiar with to explore and illustrate India’s long history of cultural fusion that accompanied their evolving political eras, going back to the 15th century. Interwoven in the obvious discussion of history are highlights of the ingredients available to both the colonizers and the local natives at the time, and the way each prepared their foods using those ingredients.
There are a few places in the book where the narrative becomes a bit dry and bogged down with names and dates and battles to be won; in that respect, it sometimes reads too much like a history book and if you aren’t familiar with Indian history it can quickly become confusing. But overall, Collingham writes in a conversational, easy to digest voice that, at times, made me wish I was listening to her instead of just reading.
But this book is more than just a history of food. Collingham also addresses the racism, both blatant and subtle, inherent in the colonizer/colonized situation with regards to food, it’s preparation, and it’s acceptance. It’s an eye-opening discussion to which those of us not exposed to that racism due to geographic considerations don’t give much thought. But she brings it into the present day onto the global stage. Going forward I will be more aware of the accommodations the restaurants and their employees are willing to make, and the often unfair expectations those of us who patronize them harbor.
The takeaway from the book is that the search for an authentic Indian cuisine is like the search for an authentic India which, even today, after 70 years of independence, remains elusive. Much like the US, India is more a union of diverse regions and tastes, as opposed to being one distinct cuisine/culture. That search for authenticity is a false judgment passed by those more interested in touting their own experience than upholding and highlighting a heritage and those traits which make a culture and a people unique.
(Ithink I’m gonna pass on the recipe for Roasted Black Rat, though. Just sayin�.)
June 14, 2019
When I was in college, there was an old witticism which ran something like this: “Heaven is when you have a German car, American salary, Chinese food and Indian wife. Hell is when the car is Chinese, food German, wife American and salary Indian�. However, with the 2015 pollution scandal concerning the German Volkswagen brand and twenty years with an Indian wife, I am not so sure of its authenticity anymore! But Indian food, especially its curry, deserves a better deal as attested by its increased acceptance in various parts of the world. As can be expected, the food in the Indian subcontinent is very much varied in style and substance with the ubiquitous rice in Tamil country, sickly sweetness of Gujarat, mustard oil in Bengal and the unbearable hotness of the Telugu cuisine. The subcontinent was partitioned into three countries in the last century � India, Pakistan and Bangladesh � but the cuisine unites them still. Indian curry was popularized in other countries with the growth of imperialism. Colonial British administrators who had retired to a peaceful life in the home country and the Indians studying or working in England craved for Indian food. This steady demand spawned a string of affordable restaurants, from which the fad spread to other parts of the British Empire. Another wave of Indian migration occurred after the Second World War and the oil boom of the 1980s. The curry is hence finding more and more adoring patrons in all the places it had visited. This book presents the story of how it was transformed into something like a home-grown dish for the British and the immense changes which took place in the ingredients and preparation of it. Lizzie Collingham is a historian interested in linking the minutiae of daily life to the broad sweep of historical processes. She has also written another book which examines the Second World War from the perspective of food as a weapon of war.
The traditional Hindu society was very particular with what you eat, how you eat, whom you eat with and who cooked it. The author presents a clear observation on the taboos associated with this simple act of eating. The social status of the cook was especially important for kaccha foods which are not properly cooked and just prepared with water. Water softens the food and opens it up for (ritual) contamination. The pakka foods were prepared in ghee or oil, a product of the sacred cow. This saving grace allows high-caste people to sometimes eat them even if they are prepared by lower castes. Such extensive rules were made irrelevant and impractical with the growth of railways. During long journeys, the travellers prudently chose to do away with caste rules rather than starving. Food taboo was another concern. Muslims won't eat pork and caste Hindus won’t eat beef. As far as other non-vegetarian food is concerned, attitudes were malleable. Kashmiri Brahmins would eat mutton while Bengali Brahmins would happily gulp down fish. Generally, the author observes that caste rules and regulations on food were far more flexible than they looked on paper. Some Ayurvedic textbooks recommend a beef-rich diet to people with active occupations. The Mahabharata mentions Brahmins enjoying good beef dinners (p.23) while it also includes a passage where a cow complains about the wanton carnage committed on her relatives. Outlook towards the consumption of beef began to alter as the country became increasingly agrarian and Indians relied more heavily on cows as draught animals and to produce milk. A ban on cow slaughter was then not long in coming.
A great infusion of external tastes to Indian taste buds came about during the Mughal period. Mughal cuisine was a synthesis of Indian, Persian and Central Asian foods and recipes. Humayun was exiled to Persia for a few years under the reign of Sher Shah Suri. He brought with him Persian cooks when he regained the throne. In Akbar's time, the delicately flavoured Persian pilau met the pungent and spicy rice dishes of India to create the classic Mughlai dish, the Biryani.
India came under the influence of Europeans from the sixteenth century onwards, who introduced many varieties of American eatables like pineapple, chilli, tomato, potato and maize which found quick acceptance in Indian cuisine. The British food didn't enthuse Indians, but their eclectic approach to Indian cookery created a repertoire of dishes which brought together in one kitchen influences ranging from all over the subcontinent. That is, North Indian food came to the south through British hands. Mughlai cuisine was employed only by the Muslims, but when the British co-opted it into their dining tables, it found wide reception among Indians. However, British dining habits underwent a subtle change in the latter half of nineteenth century. With the introduction of steamships and the opening of the Suez Canal, more British women came to India and the British began to get more insulated from Indians. Officials educated in public schools were promoted as colonial rulers who wanted to demonstrate the superiority of the British race. Around this time, they became aware of the White man’s burden and the priority of the rulers shifted to bring the benefits of civilization to the ‘backward and impoverished people� of India. As a consequence, curry and rice were demoted from evening dinners but they continued in the menu during camping in the countryside and long voyages.
The final part of the book tells the story of how Indian food reached and conquered British minds in their homeland. Today, there are 8000 Indian restaurants in Britain and the majority of them are run by Bangladeshis. More than any other ethnic food, the British have made curry an integral part of British culture. They spend at least GBP 2 billion in Indian restaurants every year. However, Collingham makes a friendly warning that consumption of large quantities of curry has not necessarily made the British any less racist.
Reading the accounts of enthusiasts writing their experiences in the past, we can't help notice the poor quality of available food even to the rich and influential. One Englishwoman, new to India, was horrified to discover that her breakfast was full of little cooked worms. After sometime in India, she gave up trying to eradicate worms from flour and came to the conclusion that ‘it is better to come to reasonable terms with nature in the East�. We have come a long way from the point when even the society’s elite had to be content with contaminated food.
The book exhibits surprising historical propriety for a volume of its kind. It also lists a mindboggling collection of very old books pertaining to the Raj period in its bibliography. The author has taken great pains to collect recipes of major Indian dishes and to mix it dexterously with the text and also at the end of each chapter.
The book is recommended
The traditional Hindu society was very particular with what you eat, how you eat, whom you eat with and who cooked it. The author presents a clear observation on the taboos associated with this simple act of eating. The social status of the cook was especially important for kaccha foods which are not properly cooked and just prepared with water. Water softens the food and opens it up for (ritual) contamination. The pakka foods were prepared in ghee or oil, a product of the sacred cow. This saving grace allows high-caste people to sometimes eat them even if they are prepared by lower castes. Such extensive rules were made irrelevant and impractical with the growth of railways. During long journeys, the travellers prudently chose to do away with caste rules rather than starving. Food taboo was another concern. Muslims won't eat pork and caste Hindus won’t eat beef. As far as other non-vegetarian food is concerned, attitudes were malleable. Kashmiri Brahmins would eat mutton while Bengali Brahmins would happily gulp down fish. Generally, the author observes that caste rules and regulations on food were far more flexible than they looked on paper. Some Ayurvedic textbooks recommend a beef-rich diet to people with active occupations. The Mahabharata mentions Brahmins enjoying good beef dinners (p.23) while it also includes a passage where a cow complains about the wanton carnage committed on her relatives. Outlook towards the consumption of beef began to alter as the country became increasingly agrarian and Indians relied more heavily on cows as draught animals and to produce milk. A ban on cow slaughter was then not long in coming.
A great infusion of external tastes to Indian taste buds came about during the Mughal period. Mughal cuisine was a synthesis of Indian, Persian and Central Asian foods and recipes. Humayun was exiled to Persia for a few years under the reign of Sher Shah Suri. He brought with him Persian cooks when he regained the throne. In Akbar's time, the delicately flavoured Persian pilau met the pungent and spicy rice dishes of India to create the classic Mughlai dish, the Biryani.
India came under the influence of Europeans from the sixteenth century onwards, who introduced many varieties of American eatables like pineapple, chilli, tomato, potato and maize which found quick acceptance in Indian cuisine. The British food didn't enthuse Indians, but their eclectic approach to Indian cookery created a repertoire of dishes which brought together in one kitchen influences ranging from all over the subcontinent. That is, North Indian food came to the south through British hands. Mughlai cuisine was employed only by the Muslims, but when the British co-opted it into their dining tables, it found wide reception among Indians. However, British dining habits underwent a subtle change in the latter half of nineteenth century. With the introduction of steamships and the opening of the Suez Canal, more British women came to India and the British began to get more insulated from Indians. Officials educated in public schools were promoted as colonial rulers who wanted to demonstrate the superiority of the British race. Around this time, they became aware of the White man’s burden and the priority of the rulers shifted to bring the benefits of civilization to the ‘backward and impoverished people� of India. As a consequence, curry and rice were demoted from evening dinners but they continued in the menu during camping in the countryside and long voyages.
The final part of the book tells the story of how Indian food reached and conquered British minds in their homeland. Today, there are 8000 Indian restaurants in Britain and the majority of them are run by Bangladeshis. More than any other ethnic food, the British have made curry an integral part of British culture. They spend at least GBP 2 billion in Indian restaurants every year. However, Collingham makes a friendly warning that consumption of large quantities of curry has not necessarily made the British any less racist.
Reading the accounts of enthusiasts writing their experiences in the past, we can't help notice the poor quality of available food even to the rich and influential. One Englishwoman, new to India, was horrified to discover that her breakfast was full of little cooked worms. After sometime in India, she gave up trying to eradicate worms from flour and came to the conclusion that ‘it is better to come to reasonable terms with nature in the East�. We have come a long way from the point when even the society’s elite had to be content with contaminated food.
The book exhibits surprising historical propriety for a volume of its kind. It also lists a mindboggling collection of very old books pertaining to the Raj period in its bibliography. The author has taken great pains to collect recipes of major Indian dishes and to mix it dexterously with the text and also at the end of each chapter.
The book is recommended
May 31, 2018
So damned interesting. If you are interested in food, culture, history, and anthropology, don't miss this one. Also, INDIAN FOOD!
April 9, 2019
My sister is such an avid reader, so much more than I am, and she’s an excellent cook. When she recommended me this book, I did not hesitate. And I was not disappointed at all.
This book is so delicious: a great mix of history, culture, and cuisine, including recipes.
It was fascinating to discover how the Indian cuisines, and be sure to notice the -s, evolved all along the centuries depending on the invaders in this or that region.
A very interesting point that the author makes is that if Indians incorporated ingredients brought home by invaders and colonists, and they sure did, they NEVER changed the way they cooked, and that makes the originality of Indian cuisine; for instance, potatoes were imported, but they would never be eaten just as boiled potatoes.
The book sounds very well researched, as for historical and cultural events, which made me discover this country form a very tasty angle.
see the original post here:
This book is so delicious: a great mix of history, culture, and cuisine, including recipes.
It was fascinating to discover how the Indian cuisines, and be sure to notice the -s, evolved all along the centuries depending on the invaders in this or that region.
A very interesting point that the author makes is that if Indians incorporated ingredients brought home by invaders and colonists, and they sure did, they NEVER changed the way they cooked, and that makes the originality of Indian cuisine; for instance, potatoes were imported, but they would never be eaten just as boiled potatoes.
The book sounds very well researched, as for historical and cultural events, which made me discover this country form a very tasty angle.
see the original post here:
January 3, 2015
This is such a lovely, well written book. The author can really tell a story that is really engaging. Her historical facts about the development of much loved Indian cuisine is peppered with really interesting asides and anecdotes. At times it feels like you're going down a rabbit's warren - but that's the beauty of it! History isn't all dates and emotionless facts particularly not history about food!
This book is truly delicious!
This book is truly delicious!
May 20, 2012
Curry as Westerners know it is not the same curry as used in India. Collingham explains the historical significance behind India's most popular dishes along with a chapter on the history of tea. The Portuguese and British occupations of India along with the tide of history have brought curry to England and the US with many hybridizations along the way.
August 16, 2007
Great book about the history of Indian cooking. I nevered realized that I was really eating mostly British concoctions that Indians have adopted over the years. I think I read the book in a couple of days, I enjoyed it so much.
November 10, 2011
Lizzie Collingham needs to focus.
February 6, 2016
This book has an immense bias toward toward the British influences on Indian food. It also didn't give many recipes for vegetarian food, which is a real shame.
January 21, 2021
I had heard great praise for Lizzie Collingham as an historian of food, and I was not disappointed. The story told is too broad to have an all encompassing thesis other than Indian food has been affected by conquest and changing availability of ingredients, and that modernization and communication is changing it even now. The chapters focused on specific interventions, or later social phenomena allow Collingham to tell intriguing stories of exchanges and social transformations. Our preferred local Indian place emphasizes Goan food, and it was interesting to learn how important the encounter with the Portuguese sowed the seeds for what we came to think of as Indian food. The rise and fall and rise again of curry under the Raj and and after is also well told and new to me. If there is one quibble, it is I wish she had gone into a bit more detail about the Indian food of the Caribbean. While the way immigration broke down traditional caste divisions is explained, a phenomenon interesting in and of itself, as someone who engages a fair amount with Guyanese and other peoples from the islands, I would have liked her to have discussed the Trinidadian innovation of the doubles, perhaps even including a recipe.
October 6, 2018
This book is not just about food. It is about the multicultural change which had taken in the past and is still taking place. It is not just about how Indian subcontinental cuisine has influenced the world but also how Indian imperial history has affected the daily "roti" of Indians. Though, I find the name "curry" a bit confusing. Even when talking about indian cuisine, it covers not only curry but dishes like khichdi, cake, chai, cutlets and many others.
A major part of the book discusses how Indian cooking gave birth to Anglo-Indian and British Indian cooking during British imperial Raj. It discusses why there is still a stereotypical image of India outside of being a land of snakes, Maharajas and hot food. And this is all from a culinary perspective.
You will get to know about a lot of recipes and they are so simply written as to lure you into believing that if you can cook the recipe immediately. I have yet to have my hands dirty on them! You have recipes of khicharis, chutneys, kormas and even chai! In fact I was lucky to try one of the vindaloo dishes at Puducherry (it was chicken though and not the traditional duck with which vindaloo was initially made).
All and all, this book is a lovely read for any history lover or someone who wants to try out a few recipes.
A major part of the book discusses how Indian cooking gave birth to Anglo-Indian and British Indian cooking during British imperial Raj. It discusses why there is still a stereotypical image of India outside of being a land of snakes, Maharajas and hot food. And this is all from a culinary perspective.
You will get to know about a lot of recipes and they are so simply written as to lure you into believing that if you can cook the recipe immediately. I have yet to have my hands dirty on them! You have recipes of khicharis, chutneys, kormas and even chai! In fact I was lucky to try one of the vindaloo dishes at Puducherry (it was chicken though and not the traditional duck with which vindaloo was initially made).
All and all, this book is a lovely read for any history lover or someone who wants to try out a few recipes.
March 7, 2019
You do not have to like curry (or curry powder) to enjoy this book! I have always found it fascinating that chili peppers and potatoes � both products of the New World � feature so prominently in Indian cooking. It turns out that even before the introduction of ingredients from the Americas, Indian cuisine was influenced by the Persians, Mughals, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and others. And Indian cooking, in one form or another, has made its way around the globe. Although there are recipes in the book, most of them are not very practical for contemporary cooks. Instead the narrative is a fascinating look at “curry� and the history of cultural cross-fertilization that it represents. The author has done a phenomenal amount of research and concocted a very satisfying read.
Read
May 24, 2020Although the book is as much about the influence of other cuisines on Indian food, and vice versa, as it is about Indian food itself, it quickly becomes apparent that "Indian food" has been mutable for much of recorded history. Thus we learn of the Portuguese, then dominant in the rich spice trade, introducing to India the Scotch bonnets discovered by the Italian Columbus in the Caribbean while he was looking for a new passage to India. The Portuguese method of cooking meat in vinegar was also adopted by Goan cooks and thus were dishes like vindaloo born.
The Persian influence on Indian food, following the invasion of the north, was huge and led to the Mughlai cuisine still in evidence today. The green and red grains that decorate your pulao today are the hangover from a time when emperors, in a bid to impress, would serve whole plates of red rice, or rice washed in salt water to make it sparkle like diamonds, or create mock biriyanis from sugar in a foreshadowing of the tricks employed by the gastro scientists of the 21st century.
We learn of the horrors inflicted upon Indian food by the British (who don't come out of this story looking particularly good), who reduced a hugely varied food culture, unrecognisable from one region of the subcontinent to another, to a standard curry dish prepared by making a roux of curry powder (an alien concept to native cooks) and flour, then cooking meat in it before adding "swollen sultanas", apples, gherkins etc. We learn that the British invention kedgeree evolved from the staple khichari, a simple rice and lentil dish, and that curry, or the British idea of curry, underwent changing fortunes as it was deemed first an exotic indicator of class, then an interference to the spread of proper Britishness throughout the uncivilised colonies. And we learn how the vast majority of British Indian restaurants today are run by people from one district of Bangladesh, Sylhet, who left their homeland en masse, found work as sailors and later jumped ship in places like Southampton.
If you're looking for a comprehensive regional guide to the intricacies of Indian food, this isn't quite it. But it is a fascinating, sympathetic history of its development and spread which should be enjoyed by anyone with a deeper interest in Indian food than "How spicy can you make my phaal?" The book also contains many recipes, both modern and old, from authentic Mughal kormas to 1800's British "Madras" curries, which might make for some absorbing culinary experimentation for those so inclined.
The Persian influence on Indian food, following the invasion of the north, was huge and led to the Mughlai cuisine still in evidence today. The green and red grains that decorate your pulao today are the hangover from a time when emperors, in a bid to impress, would serve whole plates of red rice, or rice washed in salt water to make it sparkle like diamonds, or create mock biriyanis from sugar in a foreshadowing of the tricks employed by the gastro scientists of the 21st century.
We learn of the horrors inflicted upon Indian food by the British (who don't come out of this story looking particularly good), who reduced a hugely varied food culture, unrecognisable from one region of the subcontinent to another, to a standard curry dish prepared by making a roux of curry powder (an alien concept to native cooks) and flour, then cooking meat in it before adding "swollen sultanas", apples, gherkins etc. We learn that the British invention kedgeree evolved from the staple khichari, a simple rice and lentil dish, and that curry, or the British idea of curry, underwent changing fortunes as it was deemed first an exotic indicator of class, then an interference to the spread of proper Britishness throughout the uncivilised colonies. And we learn how the vast majority of British Indian restaurants today are run by people from one district of Bangladesh, Sylhet, who left their homeland en masse, found work as sailors and later jumped ship in places like Southampton.
If you're looking for a comprehensive regional guide to the intricacies of Indian food, this isn't quite it. But it is a fascinating, sympathetic history of its development and spread which should be enjoyed by anyone with a deeper interest in Indian food than "How spicy can you make my phaal?" The book also contains many recipes, both modern and old, from authentic Mughal kormas to 1800's British "Madras" curries, which might make for some absorbing culinary experimentation for those so inclined.
December 15, 2021
“Over the centuries, new foodstuffs and recipes have transformed Indian food. In modern India, the kitchens of the growing Indian bourgeoisie have joined the imperial kitchens of the Mughal emperors, the bakehouses of the Portuguese settlers at Goa, the Vaisnavite temple kitchens in the south and the cookhouses of the British in India as the engines of culinary change. Every town and city in India now has a substantial middle class made up of Indians from many different areas. Women living outside their home regions, away from the grandmothers and aunts who are the traditional sources of recipes and culinary advice, have turned to cookery books and recipe columns in newspapers and magazines for inspiration. These new English-language recipe books rarely confine themselves to dishes from one region. Thus, while housewives might look to them to help reproduce traditional food from their own regions, they are increasingly exposed to recipes from all round India.�
The book comprises of ten chapters:
1: Chicken Tikka Masala: the quest for an authentic Indian meal
2: Biryani: the Great Mughals
3: Vindaloo: the Portuguese and the chilli pepper
4: Korma: East India Company merchants, temples and the Nawabs of Lucknow
5: Madras Curry: the British invention of curry
6: Curry Powder: bringing India to Britain
7: Cold Meat Cutlets: British food in India
7: Cold Meat Cutlets: British food in India
8: Chai: the great tea campaign
9: Curry and Chips: Syhleti sailors and Indian takeaways
10: Curry Travels the World
There are undoubtedly plentiful ways of eating a bona fide Indian meal.
However, there are certain primary principles governing Indian food. These are derived from Ayurvedic (science of life) medicine, which is still practised today in India and many other places throughout the world.
The founding texts of Ayurveda were two ancient medical treatises, known as the Caraka-samhita and the Susruta-samhita, first written down sometime in the first century BC. These medical texts outlined the principles governing a correct diet. They argued that the body needed to be kept in a state of equilibrium with its environment.
This translated into a recommendation that people living in marshy damp areas should eat hot heavy iguana meat and those living in the plains should eat the light and nutritious black antelope.
Diet also had to be adjusted to the seasonal variations in the Indian climate. During the hot weather, when the body needed to conserve energy, the Caraka-samhita advised a diet of cold foods such as milky gruels.
The arrival of the Muslim in India between the 10th and 11th centuries resulted in a large combination of culinary traditions.
With Mesopotamian, Persian and Middle Eastern cuisine, culinary art reached the peak of complexity under the Mughals. The latter have left behind not only the Taj Mahal and Red Fort but also a rich legacy of food, which remains alive after centuries.
The Muslims brought refined and courtly etiquette of both group and individual dining � basically sharing food in fellowship. In doing so, they revolutionised simple Indian food. Items native to India were enriched with nuts, raisins, saffron and aromatic herbs. Each of the Muslim rulers offered something or the other to make Indian food a potpourri of spices, taste and flavour. Babur brought grilled meats along with different varieties of fruits and nuts from Central Asia.
Humayun introduced Iranian flavours of sweet and sour, and the use of nuts and saffron.
Rice-based pilaus, bhartas and stewed meat called kharosh, which later took the shape of korma in India, appeared during his reign. Cartloads of almonds, pistachios, walnut, dried apricots and plums, and raisins were imported to Hindustan along the new roads which were constructed to facilitate trade throughout northern India, Central Asia and Persia.
Several centuries later came the colonial rulers.
A story goes: When English memsahibs sent their empire-building husbands off to work, what went with them in their lunch-boxes were slices of roast from Sunday’s lunch, wedges of cold pork pies, leftover stew with a few boiled eggs thrown in.
The determined brown sahibs who shared offices with these Englishmen were impressed with these packed lunches and began to believe that these bland and often insipid offerings were the secret to the power of their masters.
And so, somewhere in Bombay, an exasperated homemaker, egged on by her upwardly-aspirational husband, fashioned a dish that was a cross between a shepherd’s pie and a pasta casserole, using leftover curry. Thus was born the dabba gosht.
Over the centuries, cuisines in India have assimilated a lot of colonial influences. These have gone both ways. From the chamosa of Portugal that is inspired by the Indian samosa, to the kedgeree that pays tribute to our khichdi. While tracing the lineages of these dishes may prove difficult, the fact remains that a delicious legacy continues to prevail.
Little new information comes out of this book. The author nonetheless must be credited for the orderliness of presentation.
Three stars.
The book comprises of ten chapters:
1: Chicken Tikka Masala: the quest for an authentic Indian meal
2: Biryani: the Great Mughals
3: Vindaloo: the Portuguese and the chilli pepper
4: Korma: East India Company merchants, temples and the Nawabs of Lucknow
5: Madras Curry: the British invention of curry
6: Curry Powder: bringing India to Britain
7: Cold Meat Cutlets: British food in India
7: Cold Meat Cutlets: British food in India
8: Chai: the great tea campaign
9: Curry and Chips: Syhleti sailors and Indian takeaways
10: Curry Travels the World
There are undoubtedly plentiful ways of eating a bona fide Indian meal.
However, there are certain primary principles governing Indian food. These are derived from Ayurvedic (science of life) medicine, which is still practised today in India and many other places throughout the world.
The founding texts of Ayurveda were two ancient medical treatises, known as the Caraka-samhita and the Susruta-samhita, first written down sometime in the first century BC. These medical texts outlined the principles governing a correct diet. They argued that the body needed to be kept in a state of equilibrium with its environment.
This translated into a recommendation that people living in marshy damp areas should eat hot heavy iguana meat and those living in the plains should eat the light and nutritious black antelope.
Diet also had to be adjusted to the seasonal variations in the Indian climate. During the hot weather, when the body needed to conserve energy, the Caraka-samhita advised a diet of cold foods such as milky gruels.
The arrival of the Muslim in India between the 10th and 11th centuries resulted in a large combination of culinary traditions.
With Mesopotamian, Persian and Middle Eastern cuisine, culinary art reached the peak of complexity under the Mughals. The latter have left behind not only the Taj Mahal and Red Fort but also a rich legacy of food, which remains alive after centuries.
The Muslims brought refined and courtly etiquette of both group and individual dining � basically sharing food in fellowship. In doing so, they revolutionised simple Indian food. Items native to India were enriched with nuts, raisins, saffron and aromatic herbs. Each of the Muslim rulers offered something or the other to make Indian food a potpourri of spices, taste and flavour. Babur brought grilled meats along with different varieties of fruits and nuts from Central Asia.
Humayun introduced Iranian flavours of sweet and sour, and the use of nuts and saffron.
Rice-based pilaus, bhartas and stewed meat called kharosh, which later took the shape of korma in India, appeared during his reign. Cartloads of almonds, pistachios, walnut, dried apricots and plums, and raisins were imported to Hindustan along the new roads which were constructed to facilitate trade throughout northern India, Central Asia and Persia.
Several centuries later came the colonial rulers.
A story goes: When English memsahibs sent their empire-building husbands off to work, what went with them in their lunch-boxes were slices of roast from Sunday’s lunch, wedges of cold pork pies, leftover stew with a few boiled eggs thrown in.
The determined brown sahibs who shared offices with these Englishmen were impressed with these packed lunches and began to believe that these bland and often insipid offerings were the secret to the power of their masters.
And so, somewhere in Bombay, an exasperated homemaker, egged on by her upwardly-aspirational husband, fashioned a dish that was a cross between a shepherd’s pie and a pasta casserole, using leftover curry. Thus was born the dabba gosht.
Over the centuries, cuisines in India have assimilated a lot of colonial influences. These have gone both ways. From the chamosa of Portugal that is inspired by the Indian samosa, to the kedgeree that pays tribute to our khichdi. While tracing the lineages of these dishes may prove difficult, the fact remains that a delicious legacy continues to prevail.
Little new information comes out of this book. The author nonetheless must be credited for the orderliness of presentation.
Three stars.
February 21, 2019
Very interesting book. Only reason I'm giving 4 stars and not 5 is because it feels a little rushed and I would like to read more about different ingredients and their origins. Side note: there is a show on Netflix called 'Raja Rasoi aur Anya Kahaniyan' that also covers very similar topics so watch that if you are interested.
February 13, 2024
A history of food, individual foodstuffs and foreign rule in India (both Mughal and British), and the influence it has had on Indian and Indianesque cooking. Maybe there could have been a bit more history of the last generation or two, but that aside I really enjoyed this!
April 15, 2018
I took a week to complete Lizzie Collingham’s “Curry - A tale of cooks and conquerors�. This exceedingly thorough and well-researched book is about the story of “Curry� and how it evolved. I have read many books on food history but never have I read a historical book on just one dish! The book is divided into mouth-watering chapters titled Chicken Tikka Masala, Biryani, Vindaloo, Korma, Madras Curry, Curry Powder, Cold Meat cutlets, Chai, Curry and Chips and Curry travels the world.
I am very curious about Indian food because it is what I grew up eating, yet every Indian household has a different food style. I want to know how, why, what, when for every single dish. This book was an eye opener. I learnt that cashews, papaya, pineapple, guava etc. are not native to India, but were introduced by the Portuguese. I also learnt that the Portuguese have influenced Indian food in many indirect ways by way of introducing tomato, cauliflower, cashew, milk based desserts and most importantly chillies. Half the fruits we now eat in India were introduced by the Mughals who were from Turkey. South Indian cuisine is derived mostly from temple cooking (no wonder it is healthier and more Ayurvedic in nature). I learnt how the nawabs of Oudh (Awadh) were extreme bon vivant gourmets. How biryanis and pilaus came into being. I learnt that coffee was introduced to India much before tea and even during Mughal times, India had coffee houses! I learnt how India became a tea drinking nation. It was all due to the unwavering promotion of the British formed Indian tea board, the story of which I found riveting and interesting. How to make people change their food habits? Keep throwing promotions day in and day out, by way of free food!
I end my quick review with this excerpt from the book, “Although they barely changed the WAY Indians eat, the British radically altered WHAT they eat and drink�. If you want to understand India and Indian cuisine, this book is a must-read.
I am very curious about Indian food because it is what I grew up eating, yet every Indian household has a different food style. I want to know how, why, what, when for every single dish. This book was an eye opener. I learnt that cashews, papaya, pineapple, guava etc. are not native to India, but were introduced by the Portuguese. I also learnt that the Portuguese have influenced Indian food in many indirect ways by way of introducing tomato, cauliflower, cashew, milk based desserts and most importantly chillies. Half the fruits we now eat in India were introduced by the Mughals who were from Turkey. South Indian cuisine is derived mostly from temple cooking (no wonder it is healthier and more Ayurvedic in nature). I learnt how the nawabs of Oudh (Awadh) were extreme bon vivant gourmets. How biryanis and pilaus came into being. I learnt that coffee was introduced to India much before tea and even during Mughal times, India had coffee houses! I learnt how India became a tea drinking nation. It was all due to the unwavering promotion of the British formed Indian tea board, the story of which I found riveting and interesting. How to make people change their food habits? Keep throwing promotions day in and day out, by way of free food!
I end my quick review with this excerpt from the book, “Although they barely changed the WAY Indians eat, the British radically altered WHAT they eat and drink�. If you want to understand India and Indian cuisine, this book is a must-read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2023
Very first impressions over the first few pages:
- Oh my stars, the font size in this book is tiny. What is this, a 9 point font?
- Uh oh, this will give me an insatiable craving for (the best Indian spot in Fishtown).
- I miss being academically smart and pursuing my culinary research.
I have always adored Indian food, and this book has been resting unread on my culinary reference shelf for an embarrassingly long time.
The first time I tried Indian food, I was 10 years old. My always fun and adventurous parents had discovered a spot in nearby Phoenixville (possibly called Royal Sangam Indian Restaurant), and we loved it so much that we even brought extended family there one year for a very non traditional Thanksgiving. My first taste of cilantro took place there and it's been one of my favorite flavors ever since. I was captivated by the sitar soundtrack; the cloth wall murals depicting an unfolding of mythical scenes and sparkling with gold sequins; the pale pink tablecloths; and of course, the food. I loved it and still do, to the point where I joke about a gear shutting down in my brain at first whiff, compelling me to shovel as much of it in my face as possible. Indian buffets sustained me through many cold Penn State winters, where a robust yet affordable 2pm meal could be enough to fuel me through an entire day.
While it did seeminglytake me forever to read this book, I'm very glad I did. I don't feel as though I had a ton of world history automatically included in my American education, and this was the first time I learned about many intricacies of the British empire and how they came to dominate in the subcontinent.
Food and eating are indisputably political. In the first episode of season 2 of Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, set in Puerto Rico, Padma asserts, "...to eat is political. The choices we make when we buy our food and feed our families - it's political." The history of Indian food is a solid case study for this statement, being so deeply influenced by early global commerce, immigration and emigration, and colonization.
"The range of culinary styles within India means that authenticity is more accurately tied to a region." p. 3 Absolutely, to the point of being borderline, well, yeah, DUH - the subcontinent is a giant land mass, roughly 1/3 the size of the U.S., having many different climates.
"Besides synthesizing the different cuisines by creating new dishes, Mughlai cuisine brought together the cookery of central Asia, Persia, and Hindustan by combining different dishes from each of these traditions in one meal. In the pantry of the imperial kitchen, bakers made thin chapattisof Hindu provenance as well as the thick wheat breads, stuffed with honey, sugar, and almonds, loved by the Persians. Persian cooks prepared sugar-coated almonds, pastries, and quince james, while Indian cooks made pickles and chutneys, sweet limes, curds, and green vegetables." p. 29-30
On Goan cuisine: "The result of this culinary interchange was a pleasing fusion of Portuguese ingredients (pork) - some of which were derived from Arab influences onIberian cookery (dried fruit) - and Portuguese techniques (marinating and cooking in vinegar), with the south Indian spice mixtures, sour tamarind paste, shredded coconut, and coconut milk. Added into this already cosmopolitan blend were the recently discovered foodstuffs from the New World such as the chilli. Thus Goan dishes unite in their fiery sauces the culinary histories of three continents: Europe, Asia, and the Americas." p. 69-70
"At all their settlements, even the remote military cantonments in the Indian countryside, the British created a simulacrum of British society. But their little Englands in India were always fragile, as India insinuated itself into every aspect of daily life. British racial and cultural arrogance meant that they set out to shape Indian society and culture to their own ends. However, they discovered, just as the Mughals had done before them, that India's impact on the culture of its rulers was inescapable." p. 110
"Although it lacked sophistication, Anglo-Indian cookery was the first truly pan-Indian cuisine. Mughlai cuisine never became an all-India phenomenon: the culinary styles of many Indian regions were not incorporated into the repertoireand its spread was limited. In contrast, the British adopted recipes, ingredients, techniques, and garnishes from all over the subcontinent and combined them in a coherent repertoire of dishes." p. 118
"For the British the symbolicweight of English food was more important than the fact that it was bland and uninteresting. Soup and roast meat, custard and pudding, were all essential elements in the maintenance of prestige." p. 170
On the British creating a Westernized Indian elite: "They found that they had placed their own weapons in their subjects' hands. Armed with an understanding of Western philosophy and politics, educated Indians were able to demonstrate the injustices of imperialism using the rhetoricof their rulers." p. 176-177
On chai, after an aggressive British marketing campaign to encourage Indians to drink tea: "The Indians demonstrated their characteristic tendency to take a new foodstuff and transform it by applying Indian methods of preparation." p. 197
On the rise of Indian restaurants and their menus: "This ensured that while in India Mughlai cookery never became a national cuisine, outside India Mughlai dishes were regarded as the national food of all Indians." p. 226
"The consumption of large quantities of curry has not necessarily made the British any less racist. As the food writer Dorothy Hartley wrote in 1956, the British have an unfortunate habit of 'naturalising' any foreign dish that enters the culture." p. 240
"It can be argued that the prevalence of curry in the British diet is not a sign of a new multicultural sensitivity but rather is symptomatic of British insularity. The creolization of ethnic foods can be read as a sign that they are only capable of being cosmopolitan in their tastes, as long as they are able to integrate the ethnic dish into their thoroughly British food habits." p. 240
"The focus on authenticity fails to acknowledge that the mixture of different culinary styles is the prime characteristic of Indiancookery and this fusion has produced a plethora of versions of Indian food from Mughlai to Anglo-Indian, from Goan to British Indian." p. 241
- Oh my stars, the font size in this book is tiny. What is this, a 9 point font?
- Uh oh, this will give me an insatiable craving for (the best Indian spot in Fishtown).
- I miss being academically smart and pursuing my culinary research.
I have always adored Indian food, and this book has been resting unread on my culinary reference shelf for an embarrassingly long time.
The first time I tried Indian food, I was 10 years old. My always fun and adventurous parents had discovered a spot in nearby Phoenixville (possibly called Royal Sangam Indian Restaurant), and we loved it so much that we even brought extended family there one year for a very non traditional Thanksgiving. My first taste of cilantro took place there and it's been one of my favorite flavors ever since. I was captivated by the sitar soundtrack; the cloth wall murals depicting an unfolding of mythical scenes and sparkling with gold sequins; the pale pink tablecloths; and of course, the food. I loved it and still do, to the point where I joke about a gear shutting down in my brain at first whiff, compelling me to shovel as much of it in my face as possible. Indian buffets sustained me through many cold Penn State winters, where a robust yet affordable 2pm meal could be enough to fuel me through an entire day.
While it did seeminglytake me forever to read this book, I'm very glad I did. I don't feel as though I had a ton of world history automatically included in my American education, and this was the first time I learned about many intricacies of the British empire and how they came to dominate in the subcontinent.
Food and eating are indisputably political. In the first episode of season 2 of Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, set in Puerto Rico, Padma asserts, "...to eat is political. The choices we make when we buy our food and feed our families - it's political." The history of Indian food is a solid case study for this statement, being so deeply influenced by early global commerce, immigration and emigration, and colonization.
"The range of culinary styles within India means that authenticity is more accurately tied to a region." p. 3 Absolutely, to the point of being borderline, well, yeah, DUH - the subcontinent is a giant land mass, roughly 1/3 the size of the U.S., having many different climates.
"Besides synthesizing the different cuisines by creating new dishes, Mughlai cuisine brought together the cookery of central Asia, Persia, and Hindustan by combining different dishes from each of these traditions in one meal. In the pantry of the imperial kitchen, bakers made thin chapattisof Hindu provenance as well as the thick wheat breads, stuffed with honey, sugar, and almonds, loved by the Persians. Persian cooks prepared sugar-coated almonds, pastries, and quince james, while Indian cooks made pickles and chutneys, sweet limes, curds, and green vegetables." p. 29-30
On Goan cuisine: "The result of this culinary interchange was a pleasing fusion of Portuguese ingredients (pork) - some of which were derived from Arab influences onIberian cookery (dried fruit) - and Portuguese techniques (marinating and cooking in vinegar), with the south Indian spice mixtures, sour tamarind paste, shredded coconut, and coconut milk. Added into this already cosmopolitan blend were the recently discovered foodstuffs from the New World such as the chilli. Thus Goan dishes unite in their fiery sauces the culinary histories of three continents: Europe, Asia, and the Americas." p. 69-70
"At all their settlements, even the remote military cantonments in the Indian countryside, the British created a simulacrum of British society. But their little Englands in India were always fragile, as India insinuated itself into every aspect of daily life. British racial and cultural arrogance meant that they set out to shape Indian society and culture to their own ends. However, they discovered, just as the Mughals had done before them, that India's impact on the culture of its rulers was inescapable." p. 110
"Although it lacked sophistication, Anglo-Indian cookery was the first truly pan-Indian cuisine. Mughlai cuisine never became an all-India phenomenon: the culinary styles of many Indian regions were not incorporated into the repertoireand its spread was limited. In contrast, the British adopted recipes, ingredients, techniques, and garnishes from all over the subcontinent and combined them in a coherent repertoire of dishes." p. 118
"For the British the symbolicweight of English food was more important than the fact that it was bland and uninteresting. Soup and roast meat, custard and pudding, were all essential elements in the maintenance of prestige." p. 170
On the British creating a Westernized Indian elite: "They found that they had placed their own weapons in their subjects' hands. Armed with an understanding of Western philosophy and politics, educated Indians were able to demonstrate the injustices of imperialism using the rhetoricof their rulers." p. 176-177
On chai, after an aggressive British marketing campaign to encourage Indians to drink tea: "The Indians demonstrated their characteristic tendency to take a new foodstuff and transform it by applying Indian methods of preparation." p. 197
On the rise of Indian restaurants and their menus: "This ensured that while in India Mughlai cookery never became a national cuisine, outside India Mughlai dishes were regarded as the national food of all Indians." p. 226
"The consumption of large quantities of curry has not necessarily made the British any less racist. As the food writer Dorothy Hartley wrote in 1956, the British have an unfortunate habit of 'naturalising' any foreign dish that enters the culture." p. 240
"It can be argued that the prevalence of curry in the British diet is not a sign of a new multicultural sensitivity but rather is symptomatic of British insularity. The creolization of ethnic foods can be read as a sign that they are only capable of being cosmopolitan in their tastes, as long as they are able to integrate the ethnic dish into their thoroughly British food habits." p. 240
"The focus on authenticity fails to acknowledge that the mixture of different culinary styles is the prime characteristic of Indiancookery and this fusion has produced a plethora of versions of Indian food from Mughlai to Anglo-Indian, from Goan to British Indian." p. 241
November 8, 2010
Scholarly work on Indian cuisine from a historical perspective. Excerpts from 15th and 16th century accounts of European travelers are a treat to read. One may observe how written English changed across centuries, in the excerpts that the author posted verbatim.
I must say the author has done an enormous amount of research for this book. Almost every important statement is backed by a reference to the book or essay in the (chapter-wise) bibliography at the end. It's almost as if the author has tried to recreate a culinary timeline of Indian cuisine in general and curry in particular; and that's a laudable effort.
When we say "curry" we do not point to a specific dish from India. It's a very general term that indicates a style of cooking, which is not really indigenous, but affected by the waves of foreign influences in India. Portuguese, Mughal, Persian and Central Asian styles of cooking have mixed with traditional styles to mold Indian cuisine as we know it today. I came to know a lot of things like - Indian cuisine is very popular in Britain, and Japan but not in the US, and the reasons thereof. I used to think that Biryani was the idea of the nomadic Bedouins of Arabia, who needed something nutritious, easy to cook and easy to carry during their travels in the desert, but was surprised to find out that Biryani was invented in the Mughal royal court.
The chapter on Chai was highly enlightening as well.
Overall, a very good read for those who are interested in Indian cuisine and the role of curry in it.
I must say the author has done an enormous amount of research for this book. Almost every important statement is backed by a reference to the book or essay in the (chapter-wise) bibliography at the end. It's almost as if the author has tried to recreate a culinary timeline of Indian cuisine in general and curry in particular; and that's a laudable effort.
When we say "curry" we do not point to a specific dish from India. It's a very general term that indicates a style of cooking, which is not really indigenous, but affected by the waves of foreign influences in India. Portuguese, Mughal, Persian and Central Asian styles of cooking have mixed with traditional styles to mold Indian cuisine as we know it today. I came to know a lot of things like - Indian cuisine is very popular in Britain, and Japan but not in the US, and the reasons thereof. I used to think that Biryani was the idea of the nomadic Bedouins of Arabia, who needed something nutritious, easy to cook and easy to carry during their travels in the desert, but was surprised to find out that Biryani was invented in the Mughal royal court.
The chapter on Chai was highly enlightening as well.
Overall, a very good read for those who are interested in Indian cuisine and the role of curry in it.
January 25, 2012
An informative, witty and fast moving culinary history of the South Asian subcontinent, Lizzie Collingham's meticulously researched description of the cuisine of the region is a sumptuous and easily digested delight. Moving sprightly between Persia, Afghanistan, Portugal, the New World, East Africa and India, she teases out truth from fiction on the origin and evolution of many "Indian" dishes that were, in fact, formed under the influence of successive waves of invasions and settlements. I'm not much of a cook (as my friends can attest), but this book really held my attention. Partly it is because Collingham weaves fascinating historical tales around the cuisine, and perhaps it is also partly because of my vivid childhood memories eating many of the dishes described in it. Nonetheless I thoroughly recommend it to those who favor Indian cuisine. (It certainly helped that I read it during a recent trip to India, where I was reminded of just how great a variety of cuisine exists that still cannot be found in the USA. My encounters with the cuisines of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu matched with Collingham's descriptions and history enlivened and enriched my experience). This book is essential for anyone who wishes to understand Indian cuisine, and is guaranteed to once-and-for-all put an end to arguments over what curry is and where it originated!
June 28, 2007
I really enjoyed this book. I thought I was picking up only a history of Indian cuisine, I was happy to discover this book is an expansive study of the evolution Indian food. The author explores the effect India had on British cuisine, history and eating habits in equal detail as the influence of Britain on Indian foods and culture. I was surprised to learn that the British introduced the habit of tea drinking to India . Collingham details a myriad of other cultures that contributed to India's complex and diverse cuisine. I especially enjoyed the chapter on the Persian and Mughalai conquerors and the cooking styles they created. The best part is that the author includes recipes. My only complaints are that the chapters are sometimes too generalized and there is not a clear time-line or exact dates. Overall it covers too much information, some of the chapters could be expanded to entire separate books. This book left me craving for a good korma with naan bread and more to read.
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