History of Indian cuisine

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Template:Indian cuisine Template:Culture of India

About: the culinary history of the Indian subcontinent with India in focus prior to the partition of India in 1947

For other uses, see Indian cuisine.

Pakistan and Bangladesh in focus

The history of Indian cuisine consists of cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, which is rich and diverse. The diverse climate in the region, ranging from deep tropical to alpine, has also helped considerably broaden the set of ingredients readily available to the many schools of cookery in India. In many cases, food has become a marker of religious and social identity, with varying taboos and preferences (for instance, a segment of the Jain population consume no roots or subterranean vegetable; see Jain vegetarianism) which has also driven these groups to innovate extensively with the food sources that are deemed acceptable.

One strong influence over Indian foods is the longstanding vegetarianism within sections of Hindu and Jain communities. At 31%, slightly less than a third of Indians are vegetarians.[1]

Historic developments

Indian cuisine reflects an 8,000-year history of various groups and cultures interacting with the Indian subcontinent, leading to diversity of flavours and regional cuisines found in modern-day India. Later, trade with British and Portuguese influence added to the already diverse Indian cuisine.[2][3]

Prehistory and Indus Valley Civilization exchanges with Sumeria and Mesopotamia

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After 9000 BCE, a first period of indirect contacts between Fertile Crescent and Indus Valley (IV) seems to have occurred as a consequence of the Neolithic Revolution and the diffusion of agriculture.Template:Refn Around 7000 BCE, agriculture spread from the Fertile Crescent to the Indus Valley, and wheat and barley began to be grown. Sesame and humped cattle were domesticated in the local farming communities.[4] Mehrgarh is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming and herding in South Asia.[5][6]Template:Refn

By 3000 BCE, turmeric, cardamom, black pepper and mustard were harvested in India.[7][8]

From Around 2350 BCE the evidence for imports from the Indus to Ur in Mesopotamia have been found, as well as Clove heads which are thought to originate from the Moluccas in Maritime Southeast Asia were found in a 2nd millennium BC site in Terqa.[9] Akkadian Empire records mention timber, carnelian and ivory as being imported from Meluhha by Meluhhan ships, Meluhha being generally considered as the Mesopotamian name for the Indus Valley Civilization.[10][11][12]

Vedic and vegetarian Buddhist exchanges with Roman empire and influence on Southeast Asia

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The ancient Hindu text Mahabharata mentions rice and vegetable cooked together, and the word "pulao" or "pallao" is used to refer to the dish in ancient Sanskrit works, such as Yājñavalkya Smṛti.[13] Ayurveda, ancient Indian system of wellness, deals with holistic approach to wellness, and it includes food, dhyana {meditation} and yoga.

Thai cuisine was influenced by Indian cuisine as recorded by the Thai monk Buddhadasa Bhikku in his writing ‘India's Benevolence to Thailand’. He wrote that Thai people learned how to use spices in their food in various ways from Indians. Thais also obtained the methods of making herbal medicines (Ayurveda) from the Indians. Some plants like sarabhi of family Guttiferae, kanika or harsinghar, phikun or Mimusops elengi and bunnak or the rose chestnut etc. were brought from India.[14]

Filipino cuisine, found throughout the Philippines archipelago, has been historically influenced by the Indian cuisine.[15]

Cuisine exchange with Central Asian and Islamic world

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Later, arrivals from Arabia, Central Asia,[16] and centuries of trade relations and cultural exchange resulted in a significant influence on each region's cuisines, such as the adoption of the tandoor in Middle East which had originated in northwestern India.[17]

Cuisine exchange during European colonial period

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The Portuguese and British during their rule introduced cooking techniques such as baking, and foods from the New World and Europe. The new-world vegetables popular in cuisine from the Indian subcontinent include tomato, potato, sweet potatoes, peanuts, squash, and chilli. Most New world vegetables such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, Amaranth, peanuts and cassava based Sago are allowed on Hindu fasting days. Cauliflower was introduced by the British in 1822.[18] In the late 18th/early 19th century, an autobiography of a Scottish Robert Lindsay mentions a Sylheti man called Saeed Ullah cooking a curry for Lindsay's family. This is possibly the oldest record of Indian cuisine in the United Kingdom.[19][20]

Contemporary developments

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In 2019, according to data released by United Nations, 17.5 million of overseas Indians formed the world's largest diaspora, including 3.4 million in UAE, 2.7 million in USA, and 2.4 million in Saudi Arabia.[21] Indian migration has spread the culinary traditions of the subcontinent throughout the world. These cuisines have been adapted to local tastes, and have also affected local cuisines. Curry's international appeal has been compared to that of pizza.[22] Indian tandoor dishes such as chicken tikka enjoy widespread popularity.[23]

The UK's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostanee Coffee House, opened in 1810.[24][25] By 2003, there were as many as 10,000 restaurants serving Indian cuisine in England and Wales alone; 90% of Indian restaurants in the UK are run by British Bangladeshis.[26] According to Britain's Food Standards Agency, the Indian food industry in the United Kingdom is worth 3.2 billion pounds, accounts for two-thirds of all eating out and serves about 2.5 million customers every week.[27] A survey by The Washington Post in 2007 stated that more than 1,200 Indian food products had been introduced into the United States since 2000.[28]

Indian cuisine is very popular in Southeast Asia, due to the strong Hindu and Buddhist cultural influence in the region. Indian cuisine has had considerable influence on Malaysian cooking styles[29] and also enjoys popularity in Singapore.[30][31] There are numerous North and South Indian restaurants in Singapore, mostly in Little India. Singapore is also known for fusion cuisine combining traditional Singaporean cuisine with Indian influences. Fish head curry, for example, is a local creation. Indian influence on Malay cuisine dates to the 19th century.[32] Other cuisines which borrow inspiration from Indian cooking styles include Cambodian, Lao, Filipino, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, and Burmese cuisines. The spread of vegetarianism in other parts of Asia is often credited to Hindu and Buddhist practices.[33]

A 2019 research paper by US economist Joel Waldfogel, based on travel data from TripAdvisor, affirmed India's soft power which ranked Indian cuisine fourth most popular. Italian, Japanese & Chinese food being top 3. Indian cuisine is especially most popular in United Kingdom, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Germany, France and US.[34] In another 2019 survey of 25,000 people cross 34 countries, the largest fans of India cuisine who have tried it are the Indians (93%), British (84%), Singaporeans (77%), Norwegians (75%), Australians (74%), French (71%), Finnish (71%), Malaysians (70%), Indonesians (49%), Vietnamese (44%), Thai (27%), and mainland Chinese (26%).[35]

The popularity of Indian cuisine has been attributed to a large number of distinct diaspora and fusion Indian cuisines such as Indian Chinese cuisine,[36][37][38] Malaysian Indian cuisine, Indian Singaporean cuisine (based on Tamil cuisine),[39] and Anglo-Indian cuisine (developed during the British Raj in India with adoption of western dishes with Indian ingredients).[40][41][42][43]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Japanese warm to real curries and more. The Japan Times(22 April 2007). Retrieved 2007-04-23.
  2. ↑ The Indian Cuisine{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.(2011). ISBN 978-81-203-4170-8
  3. ↑ The Story of Our Food{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Universities Press(2003). ISBN 9788173712937
  4. ↑ Guns, Germs And Steel. Random House.
  5. ↑ UNESCO World Heritage. 2004. ". Archaeological Site of Mehrgarh
  6. ↑ Hirst, K. Kris. 2005. "Mehrgarh" Template:Webarchive. Guide to Archaeology
  7. ↑ Curry, Spice & All Things Nice: Dawn of History. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
  8. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
  9. ↑ The Indus-Mesopotamia relationship reconsidered (Gs Elisabeth During Caspers){{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Archaeopress(2008). ISBN 978-1-4073-0312-3
  10. ↑ The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. ABC-CLIO(2008). ISBN 9781576079072
  11. ↑ A new approach to tracking connections between the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia: initial results of strontium isotope analyses from Harappa and Ur. Journal of Archaeological Science({Template:Date).
  12. ↑ "The wide distribution of lower Indus Valley seals and other artifacts from the Persian Gulf to Shortughaï in the Amu Darya/ Oxus River valley in Badakhshan (northeastern Afghanistan) demonstrates long-distance maritime and overland trade connections until ca. 1800 BCE." in Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange within and beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Brill(2011). ISBN 9789004194588
  13. ↑ Indian food: a historical companion{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(1994). ISBN 978-0-19-562845-6
  14. ↑ Historical Ties India and Thailand. esamskriti.com.
  15. ↑ The Philippine cookbook{{#if:Alejandro|, Alejandro}. Penguin(1985). ISBN 978-0-399-51144-8
    Philippines Country Study Guide{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Int'l Business Publications(2007). ISBN 978-1-4330-3970-6
    "Philippine Cuisine." Template:Webarchive Balitapinoy.net Template:Webarchive. Retrieved July 2011.
    Why is it so hard to find a good Filipino restaurant?. Public Radio International(6 February 2014). Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  16. ↑ The Cuisine of North India Template:Webarchive, about.com
  17. ↑ Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People{{#if:Civitello|, Civitello}. John Wiley & Sons(29 March 2011). ISBN 978-0-470-40371-6
  18. ↑ Vegetable Crops{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. New India Publishing(2007). ISBN 978-81-89422-41-7
  19. ↑ Down the Surma - Origins of the Diaspora. Daily Star(19 December 2008). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  20. ↑ >Lives of the Lindsays, or, A memoir of the House of Crawford and Balcarres{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. C. S. Simms
  21. ↑ With $78 billion, India still highest overseas remittance receiver, The Economic Times, 28 November 2019.
  22. ↑ Curry. The New York Times Book Review(1 February 2006). Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  23. ↑ Tandoori Village Restaurant Brisbane. AsiaRooms.com.
  24. ↑ Curry house founder is honoured(29 September 2005). Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  25. ↑ [ARCHIVED CONTENT Food Standards Agency – Curry factfile]. Food Standards Agency. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
  26. ↑ From kala bhuna to shatkora curry – let's all get a taste for Bangladesh. The Observer(2021-03-21). Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  27. ↑ Food Standards Agency – Curry factfile. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
  28. ↑ Tikka in No Time. The Washington Post(24 January 2007). Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  29. ↑ Nasi, Kari, Biryani & Mee. Veg Voyages. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  30. ↑ Indian food gains popularity during Chinese New Year(20 February 2007).
  31. ↑ Go India: Curry, my love?, Then, Viviane.
  32. ↑ About Food in Malaysia. Travellers Worldwide. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  33. ↑ Ethnic Foods of Hawai'i{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Bess Press(1 May 2000). ISBN 978-1-57306-117-9
  34. ↑ Indian food fourth most popular in the world, a study of cuisine trade finds, ThePrint, 29 August 2019.
  35. ↑ Indian cuisine ranks among world’s Top 10, Asian Age, 14 March 2019.
  36. ↑ Culinary Fictions: Food in South Asian Diasporic Culture{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Temple University Press(2004). ISBN 978-1-4399-0078-9
  37. ↑ Calcutta Mosaic: Essays and Interviews on the Minority Communities of Calcutta{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Anthem Press(2009). ISBN 978-81-905835-5-8
  38. ↑ Fare for the Desi Dragon. Rediff.com(25 October 1999). Retrieved 2012-07-21.
  39. ↑ Home. Best Indian Food Catering.
  40. ↑ The Oxford Companion to Food{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2014). ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7
  41. ↑ Sustainable shore – October recipe – Year of Food and Drink 2015 – National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
  42. ↑ Some Like It Hot: Class, Gender and Empire in the Making of Mulligatawny Soup. Economic and Political Weekly({Template:Date).
  43. ↑ Cooking under the Raj. Retrieved 30 January 2008.
  44. ↑ Template:Cite magazine

Citations

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