Nothing really more important than food! Nothing really more rewarding! Just why from times gone by, what better way for a celebration than a Feast of Food?

“Food Sense” comes with a blend of feeling, vitality, guts and not much more, all thrown together to turn out that delicious, nutritious, harmoniously civilized meal.

Here, it would be well worthwhile to delve into the art of food making in India and merged with the resources and the Indian sense of imagination, I look to presenting this priceless asset in all its Indian diversities.

The Indian cuisine is one that is distinctly regional and distinctly apart in its unique style.

In a broad sense, it could be seen as the North Indian, the South Indian, the East Indian, the North East Indian and the West Indian forms of cuisine. To add on, religious beliefs and cultures also have a part to play, not forgetting the diverse climatic conditions of differing regions, that all merge to make the Indian cuisine that what it finally is.

History too, has indeed played a vital role in the creation of the Indian cuisine. Going back over a thousand years during the Indus Valley era, India had a vast amount of forestation, bred domesticated animals and grew vegetable like eggplant and sesame. These formed the basic diet. During the Vedic era a thousand years BC, Indians learned the art of growing herbs and started cultivating spices like cardamom, pepper, mustard, turmeric. Game was very popular and the staple diet increased to fruit, vegetable, pulses, meat, dairy products and honey. However a vast segment of the population started embracing the religious beliefs of Hinduism and turned to vegetarianism. This practice gained even more popularity with the advent of Buddhism. In addition the climatic conditions helped agriculture, and the growth of assorted vegetable and fruit.

The Persian, Mongolian, Arabian invasions together with the cultural interactions with West Asia and ancient Greece, the influence of traders such as the Arabs and the Portuguese, further diversified tastes and meals. Indian cuisine now had the tomato, potato, chilli etc as staples. Islamic rule introduced pilafs, rich gravies, kebabs, roasted and barbequed meats as well as fruits like plums, peaches and melons. The finest Biryani now came as the greatest fanfare. 

The Colonial and Portuguese rule introduced new forms of food and ingredients like potato, tomato, squash, etc., as well as the form of baking. 

The staples of the Indian cuisine are rice, whole wheat flour and pulses. The most commonly used pulses are red lentil, pigeon pea, Bengal gram, black gram, green gram. They are used extensively in the form of dal. Bengal gram is also processed into a flour called besan. 

The frequently used spices are chilli (either red or green, whole or powdered. Chillies grown in different regions differ in their strength of pungency), pepper, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, ginger, garlic, asafoetida, fenugreek, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves. Some commonly used leaves are curry leaves, coriander leaves, mint leaves, fenu greek leaves and cassia leaves. Nutmeg, rose petal essence and saffron are the commonly used flavorings. 

Several customs are associated with the manner of food consumption. Traditionally, meals are eaten sitting on the floor and are consumed using no cutlery but basically the fingers of the right hand. In South India, certain restaurants still serve the food on a banana leaf. Many an Indian family still believe that food consumed with the use of the hand is good etiquette as one knows the temperature of the food before the morsel meets the mouth, thereby preventing blisters. 

Drinking of a beverage with a meal, or wine and food matching is not common in India. People prefer to consume water which does not overshadow the taste of the food. In fact, an Indian custom is to offer a glass of water to a guest as he or she enters the home.

Let’s now venture into a short journey on the diverse regional cuisines. 

The North Indian cuisine: The staple food is a variety of lentils, vegetables and home-made bread. Chicken and goat meat are also consumed in abundance. It includes a high quantity of dairy products like yoghurt, cottage cheese, clarified butter and milk as common ingredients. Breads like puri, bhatoora naan, kulcha, roti, parantha are consumed. In this form of cooking, a griddle (tawa) is made use of, and oil is used for deep frying. A large cylindrical coal fired oven called the tandoor is used for baking bread as well as for cooking meats. Many a meat dish originated with Muslim incursion prior to the Partition. 

The Eastern cuisine: Rice is the staple diet and a regular meal consists of rice along with many side dishes made of vegetable. Fish forms an integral part of the meal, namely river fish. The use of mustard oil is preferred to ground nut oil. The general ingredients used are mustard seeds, cumin seeds, green chillies, poppy seeds and cashew seeds. A common breakfast feature is a rice dish called pantabhat. 

The Southern cuisine: A great emphasis is given to rice that is considered as a staple dish. In fact, rice is used to form many a steamed dish for breakfast. Sambar and rasam are the traditional curries used. Here, one can taste the liberal use of coconut, coconut oil and curry leaves in practically all forms of food. The dosa, poori, idlia and bonda are typical South Indian favourites. Sea food has a preference over meats. 

The North Eastern cuisine: This cuisine is more influenced by its neighbours namely Burma and China. The use of spice is very sparse. Yak is the most popularly used meat. Fried rice, momos, dimsum and vegetable cooked in soy sauce form the staple diet. 

The Western cuisine: Western India has three major food groups the Goan, the Maharashtrian and the Gujarati. 

The Goan cuisine, mainly amongst the Christians has a Portuguese influence. The food ranges from a large variety of fish and shell fish to beef, chicken and pork. Spices are used abundantly and most of the curries and vegetable preparations have a prominence of coconut. Domesticated animals are bred in households and the same are used for consumption. 

The Maharashtrian cuisine has two clearly defined geographical separations. The hilly region of the Deccan Plateau and the Western Ghats use groundnut in place of coconut and depend more on sorghum and millet as staples. The coastal regions have food similar to Goa and depend on rice, coconut and fish. 

Gujarati cuisine is predominantly vegetarian. Their dishes have a hint of sweetness from the use of sugar and jaggery. 

Common Beverages: The most commonly used beverage throughout India is chai or tea, the finest varieties being grown on the hill slopes of Darjeeling and Assam. Tea which is prepared to suit the different tastes of the region, is often flavoured with ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. Tea is drunk with milk. South India consumes more coffee than tea, most of which is strong filtered coffee. The finest variety is Coffea Arabia. North India boasts of its chaach which is made from yoghurt. Alcoholic beverages are basically made from palm or cashew and is commonly known as arrack and feni. 

So the classic array in the range of spicy Indian ingredients, flavours and techniques accounts for the best in the diversity of the cuisines in India. 

And Hey Presto! It’s only perfectly pure passion that holds the key to that harmonious blend of the sweet, the sour, the spicy and the subtle sense of this unique yet fascinating creation of “ The Great Indian Cuisine”.