Indian Food Culture: 12 Essential Books You Cannot Miss

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In the last few years, the way we look at our food has changed a lot. With a slow growing awareness about what we eat, we wonder whether ghee is good for us. What fish should we be eating? What fruits and vegetables are indigenous to India?

From food columnist and star journalist Vir Sanghvi comes a collection of insightful, witty and informative pieces on everything we ought to know about the ingredients in our kitchens.
In his distinctive, no-holds-barred style, Sanghvi introduces the reader of his food book to not only the Indian Pantry but the Indian food culture, history and unique experiences that makes Indian food so popular the world over.

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With its enormous variety of cuisines, food materials, and dishes, Indian food has become popular all over the world. The dominant flavor of this gastronomic companion is historical, and drawing on a variety of sources – literature, archaeology, epigraphic records, anthropology, philology, and
botanical and genetic studies – it offers a gamut of interesting facts pertaining to the origins and evolution of Indian food culture.

There are separate chapters on prehistoric cooking methods, regional cuisines, the theories and classification of foods, as codified by ancient Indian doctors, customs and
rituals, the etymology of food-words, and the shift towards vegetarianism with the advent of Buddhism and Jainism. This food book outlines the enormous variety of cuisines, food materials and dishes that collectively fall under the term Indian food.

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Sweets play a central role in all festivals and celebrations of India and every part of the country has special desserts that are prepared in specific ways. In her food book The Sweet Kitchen: Tales and Recipes of India’s Favourite Desserts, chef and food writer Rajyasree Sen delves into the stories behind some of these iconic sweet dishes and asks questions about the origins of others. Among the tales she tells are the following-Is sandesh only made in Bengal? Is the gulab jamun strictly Indian? Was the kaju barfi created through divine intervention? How did sweetshops support the independence movement? How did the Persians, Mughals, French, Portuguese, British, and others influence sweet dishes in different parts of the country? Why do most communities not use yoghurt in their desserts?-and more.

Weaving together stories, historical records, and recipes, the food book takes a fascinating look at the desserts we have eaten for countless Diwali, Christmas, Eid, and Navroz celebrations through the centuries in our Indian food culture.

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Bengal is home to both Hindus and Muslims and her people farm the fertile Gangetic delta for rice and vegetables as well as fishing the region’s myriad rivers.As recipes for fish in yoghurt sauce, chicken with poppy seeds, aubergine with tamarind, duck with coconut milk and the many other delights in Bengali Cooking testify, Bengal has given the world some of its most delicious dishes.

This highly original book takes the reader into kitchens in both West Bengal and Bangladesh by way of the seasons and religious and other festivals that shape the region’s cooking. Bengali Cooking is much more than a cookbook: it is also a vivid and deeply-felt introduction to Bengal’s diverse cultures and landscapes.

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Britain has become a nation of curryholics-there are more than 8000 curry restaurants visited by two million people each week. Each year, GBP 2 billion is spent in Indian restaurants, while Marks and Spencer’s sells 18 tonnes of Chicken Tikka Masala weekly. How did Britain come to take curry so much to its heart? Where did the word ‘curry’ originate? When did the first curry restaurants come to Britain? And when were the first recipes produced for those who wanted to concoct the flavoursome dishes in their home?

The first recipe for curry powder recorded by the English was from Mrs Turnbull, who wrote down her recipes in manuscript in the mid-18th century at her home in Hyde Park following her return from India. Today, curry is one of the most widely consumed meals in Britain, available in pubs nationwide, in supermarkets and in a plethora of restaurants to suit all purses and palates.

Here, bestselling author Shrabani Basu traces the story of curry in Britain from the day of the Raj through the emergence of the first curry houses in Britain in the nineteenth century, to its eventual transformation as Britain’s national dish, adapted from the Indian food culture.

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Lena Abraham knows that love can end in only one way – disappointment. Her marriage to KK is perfect precisely because she is not in love with him, and their life on a tea plantation in the picturesque Anamalai hills is idyllic.

Then, one rainy morning, a man arrives to take up temporary residence in the homestay they run. Shoola Pani is south Indian cinema’s heartthrob, an actor in flight from his own superstardom, and the last thing he is looking for is emotional entanglement.

But when Lena and he meet, something flares between them that neither could have anticipated. She becomes his Lee and he her Ship, and the place they inhabit Arcadia. Told partly from the point of view of Komathi, whose own relationship with Lena is fraught with buried truths from the past, this searing tale of unexpected passion and adultery reaffirms the magical power of love in all our lives.

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The culinary journey of three women who followed their hearts… When Sonia Kapoor, a journalist working in a Hong Kong food magazine befriends Zubi, a shy Indian woman living in Hong Kong with her husband and child, she hopes to peel away the layers of fascinating stories about Zubi’s connection with food. Hesitant at first, Zubi slowly opens up to Sonia, taking her to the Bangalore of her childhood and her mother’s simply cooked home food.

Life lessons are learnt with the help of familiar dishes and Sonia realises that there’s more to Zubi and Muslim food than just their love for biryani. At its heart, More Than Just Biryani is a story of understanding needs, discovering identities, overcoming fears and above all, embracing love.

Through the life stories of three women from three generations, the novel shows how food plays a significant role in shaping the lives and characters of each of these women. In the process, it also gives out quite a bit of the recipes for delicious Muslim dishes such as kaali mirch ki phaal, lauz, etc.

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Tarana was an indifferent eater and an unenthusiastic cook until a chance encounter with a nineteenth-century Persian cookbook in Rampur’s fabled Raza Library started her off on a journey into the history of Rampur cuisine and the stories around it.
Part food memoir and part celebration of a cuisine, Degh to Dastarkhwan answers the question-‘what constitutes and distinguishes Rampur cuisine?’ Each chapter represents an emotion, an observance or a celebration. The spread of Rampuri food from the grand royal cuisine to the simple daily fare becomes the arena to express love, loss, forgiveness and spirituality.

Peopled with compelling characters from all walks of life, the book is a tour de force that includes recollections of a princess to the spiritual ambience of a Sufi shrine, with stories of khansamas, weddings and funerals.

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In Eating India, award-winning food writer Chitrita Banerji takes us on an extraordinary journey through the Indian food culture formed by generations of arrivals, assimilations and conquests.

Traveling across the length and breadth of the country-from Bengal to Goa and Karnataka, via the Grand Trunk Road, then northwards to Amritsar, Lucknow and Varanasi, on to Bombay and Kerala-Banerji discovers a civilization with an insatiable curiosity, one that consumes the old and the new with eager voracity.

Weaving together myths and folklore associated with food, the people and their culture, the author narrates captivating accounts of life in the subcontinent: the legend behind the week-long harvest festival of Onam; the strictly observed rules of kosher in the Jewish households of Cochin; the best Benarasi thandai that has a dollop of bhang in it; and the food and culture of the indigenous people who hover on the edges of mainstream consciousness, among others.

Eating India is also peppered with fascinating tidbits from India’s history: the use of ‘shali’ rice to make pilafs during the Mughal period; the advent of chillies with the arrival of the Portuguese; British, apart from Goan, influence on Parsi society that prompted the Parsis to open the first girls’ school in India in 1849; and the medieval movable feast that unfolded on the travellers’ platter as they moved from east to west on Sher Shah Suri’s Sarak-i-Azam.

At different points in her journey, Banerji shows us how restructuring old customs and making innovations is what India is all about: food in India has always been and still is fusion-one that is forever evolving. Certain to enchant anyone enamoured of Indian food culture, Eating India is a heady blend of travelogue and food writing.

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