Indian Cuisines – A Concise Study On The Misconceptions And Facts
There are many myths and misconceptions about Indian food. Lets just take a quick look at a few of them. This will be interesting.
All Indian meals are spicy: Though Indian cooking is hot and spicier compared to European or Western cooking, there are several regions in India where the food is bland, even sweet. For those who want to test something less-hot, go taste some Gujarati dishes.
Infact traditional Indian cuisines from many parts of India may have that added masala but are generally less spicier than regions like Andhra Pradesh where recipes are very spicy in general.
Indian recipes are only vegetarian: This is partly true. Hindus, being the majority community in India, are mostly vegetarian. However there are such a lot of different sub-sects within the Hindu religion, that many of them follow their own food practices.
Many of the Hindus while vegetarian have traversed to the other side and there’s a great population of non vegetarians in India. Muslims and Christians in India also consume meat, while Hindus dont eat them as they considered it sacred.
There is no variety in Indian cooking: Many, especially foreigners and first time visitors to India, are of the opinion that Indian food doesn’t have so much of choices. Indian cuisine is perhaps one of the most varied food-culture in the world!
Indian food = Chicken Tikka : This is a popular myth made famous by ethnic Indians in England. Chicken Tikka was originally a Persian dish brought to India by the Mughals. This was later adopted by the people of Punjab (in India and Pakistan). They created their own version of Chicken Tikka and took the recipe with them when many of them migrated and settled in Britain. Though it is highly popular in UK, it is not so much in India where it has to compete with hundreds of other local dishes.
Indian food is all about Curry: Curry is something that was again made popular by British-South Asian ethnic groups. While Curry abroad may refer to a thick and spicy gravy dish, India takes a different meaning altogether. In South India, Curry may refer to a vegetable side-dish that is often served with rice.
Indians eat food with their hands: Sometimes shocking to a visitor to India is the practice of eating food with hands. This is true as Indians consider eating with their hands as tastier as well as ritualistic. Also, most Indian dishes are difficult to be eaten with forks and spoons. Many Indians today use their hands as well as forks & spoons.
You will also find that in certain Indian regions, food is served on a banana leaf or an areca nut leaf. These traditions have been passed on to families since many generations and many modern Indian continue to follow then regardless of caste differences.
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