Nowadays Indian food is popular not only in India but all over the world. The British, especially, cannot have enough of their favorite dish of curry, ever since the “Chutney Mary” restaurant was opened in London. This restaurant specializes in Indian dishes and cooking methods.

The words ‘Indian cuisine’ can be very misleading. This is because India is a vast country with diverse climates, cultures and agricultural products. With the change in the geography, the amount and type of fresh ingredients available in plenty also change, thereby creating a vast diversity in the Indian dishes. Therefore, there is ‘north Indian’, and ‘south Indian’ food based on region, ‘Mughlai’ and ‘Rajpootani’ food based on the different cultural influences, and even the famous Goan dishes that borrow heavily from the erstwhile Portuguese colonizers’ national recipes. Therefore, instead of getting confused by the variations in Indian food, it is better to discuss some of the more popular and indisputably ‘Indian’ dishes like the now-world-famous snack, ‘samosa’.

A samosa is a deep fried patty filled generally with boiled and mashed potatoes and a variety of Indian spices and boiled peas. Most samosa recipes call for refined flour for the outer crunchy crust. New, health conscious recipes allow these golden triangles to be baked instead of deep fried to shave a little guilt off the indulgence.

You can also experiment with the different versions of this popular snack. There are sweet samosas, “keema” samosas stuffed with minced meat instead of potato, as well as ‘chana’ samosa, or samosa stuffed with boiled chickpeas instead of the usual boiled potatoes.

Indian food has become one of the most sought after ‘exotic’ cuisines nowadays. It is known for its generous use of spices, aroma and for its delicate mix of flavors. Many people find Indian food too rich or too spicy for their taste buds, but the truth is that the Indian food served in restaurants is very different from the daily, simple home fare that millions of Indians enjoy every day.

For example, let us take the famous curry dish of chicken tikka masala which is considered so very Indian and which, in reality, is a recipe never known to Indians until the Indians settled in England went ahead and concocted this dish which could be considered Indian because of the generous use of ‘masalas’ or spice mixes, but which never evolved in India. The red tomato based sauce was toned down in spiciness to suit the British palette and the recipe is as varied as the stories of the origin of this dish.

You can make some on your own. All you need to do is marinate some chicken chunks in yogurt and your favourite Indian spices for about six hours, and then bake it in a tomato based gravy in an oven. Alternately, you may want to cook the whole thing in a pot that you should seal with a flour-water paste for pressure. Enjoy with ‘naan’ or rice. The popularity of the curry dish is such that the term ‘Indian cuisine’ has become synonymous with the word ‘curry’.

Characterised by its unique use of spices, herbs and vegetables grown throughout the length and breadth of the Indian terrain, Indian food offers one of the most diverse cuisines throughout the world. From the kebabs and tandoori food of the North to the idlis and dosas of the south; from the sweetdishes like rasagulla of the east to the pani puri snacks of the Western region, the cuisine of the country satiates the tastebuds of almost everyone, and in fact leaves one mind-boggled as to the variations on offer. Popular not just amongst the Indian populace and the diaspora but also globally amongst other peoples, the popularity of Indian food could be attributed to its diversity which allows the accommodation of everything from the simplest of vegetarian dishes to the richness and complexity of non-vegetarian food, and from the spiciest of curries and gravies to the sweetest of sweetmeats.

As a land known for the heterogeneity of its various cultures which provide a beautiful example of its complex heritage, the cuisine of India is a reflection of the way the intermingling of various cultures can give rise to a breathtaking multiplicity of food. Food in the country is not just a means of filling one’s belly, but is an integral part of the way of life, with good food being considered one of the key ingredients for the recipe to a satisfying life. In many cases, food is also a marker of social and historical identity, and the diversification on offer testifies to the influence of the various histories and religions which make India such a complex nation to fathom. Food thereby is more than just a cultural indicator within the framework of the Indian cultural ethos, it is a way of life which is a testimony to the broad processes of historical and cultural evolution that the nation has undergone in its long history, and as such, is an important contributor to the variety of meanings that can help us comprehend that elusive question-‘What is India all about?’