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An insightful guide
to Indian cuisine
for diners and travelers
by an established authority
Why Indian cuisine is special
India offers a variety of aromatic regional cooking
styles, each with its own distinct character.
Famous
regional cuisines
Click the buttons below to learn about these Indian cuisine standouts.
 
 
 
Insights on how northern
and southern Indian foods
significantly differ
Though the cuisines of both South and North India are among the world's finest and have some similarities, the
two differ in major ways, as I've discovered on my many culinary research trips to India.
 The most striking difference is that
rice is more popular in the south while wheat (which is transformed into breads) reigns in the north. Climate
and economics mandate this regional Indian cuisine preference. Rice grows more efficiently in the tropical and semi-tropical south,
wheat in the temperate north.
Still, the Southerners do eat some
breads, but they're more likely to be made of rice than wheat. Likewise, Northerners do eat some rice, but the
rice grains grown in the north are longer, less glutinous and more fragrant than the southern-harvested
varieties.
Sauces are thinner in the South,
thicker in the North. The fact that Indians by custom eat with their hands dictates this difference.
Bread-eating Northerners require a thicker sauce because they use a piece of bread to scoop up the food and
sauce. If the sauces were too wet, the bread would become soggy and fall apart
- or the sauce would quickly
flow off the bread back onto the plate or on the diner's lap. Southerners don't face this thin-sauce problem
because rice remains relatively firm when wet - and readily absorbs the seasoned liquid before the diner pops
a hand-held clump of rice into his mouth.
Spices are extremely important in
both North and South Indian cuisines - they play a major role in making Indian dishes enticingly aromatic, an
Indian cuisine trademark. Still, differences exist. South Indians prefer to cook with freshly prepared spice
and herb mixtures while northerners tend to use powdered seasoning blends. Chilies are used in greater
quantity in the south. Tamarind or other souring agents are common seasonings while onions and garlic are not
- the opposite is true in North India.
Vegetarianism is more prevalent in
the south, which partially explains why you'll usually find better-conditioned fruits and vegetables in
Southern marketplaces. It's more essential for non-meat than meat eaters to gain maximum nutrition from
perfectly fresh produce, so there's more of a marketplace demand for it.
The principal cooking medium
in South India is vegetable oil derived from sunflower and other seeds - the prime exception occurs in coastal Kerala where coconut oil reigns. Ghee, a clarified butter, is the traditional cooking fat in North India,
though vegetable oil has recently gained considerably in popularity.
The Indian cuisine
of the south is truer to its
ancestral roots - most of what you taste today is very much like what Southerners ate 500 years ago. Not so in
the North, which assimilated many foreign influences, particularly the cooking style of the Mogul Empire,
which was founded in India by conquerors from the Middle East.
Other well known Indian
state and city cuisines
Andhra Pradesh
(state)
- Wins the "Hottest Cuisine in India" title.
Karnataka
(state) - Has India's second highest percentage of vegetarians (after Tamil Nadu).
New Delhi
(city) - Its core Indian cuisine is a fusion of Persian, Punjab and Mughal cooking.
Rajasthan (state) - Some
foreigners think it has a great cuisine (it doesn't), perhaps because Rajasthan has a fascinating history.
West Bengal (state) - Cuisine
revolves around fish, rice and lentils.
Learn about these
regional Indian cuisines
Click the 6 regional cuisine buttons:
Also learn
about these
exciting
world cuisines
My food & wine
credentials
My books have been critically acclaimed by major magazines and newspapers. Click
the button below to read a sampling (in Acrobat format).
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