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Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors

Amazon.com Price:  $12.91 (as of 01/05/2019 16:16 PST- Details)

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Description

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 virtually each and 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 preferred cuisine that we know today. Portuguese spice merchants, for instance, 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. Actually, 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. In spite of everything, Collingham describes how Indian food has spread all over 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 seek advice from 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 a large number of recipes, Curry is vivid, entertaining, and delicious–a feast for food lovers all over the place.

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