Sunday, October 11, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
THE RICH CULINARY HERITAGE OF INDIA
Indian cooking derives from 2000years old time span- during which the geographical boundaries , the culture etc has changed- and lead to give an identity as the cuisine of sub-continent and serve as the base of other neighbouring cuisines. Indian cooking has shaped significantly by the various influences bought into the country by the rulers and travelers- but it has not changed its identity- but it has enriched by the effects and influences.
History states that the origin of Indian civilization and cuisine are as old as mankind. The earlier civilization such as Mohenjedaro and harappa are stretch back to 2000bc. Most people were believed that the importance of Ayurveda tradition had started from there, which believes the importance of what we eat will affect the body functions. So the food which consumed will be natural, pure and good. And Ayurveda says that the food should be in a balance of six tastes- salt, sweet, sour,pungent, bitter and astringent.
By 1000BC the outsiders started movements into the country from the Indus valley civilization. And the earlier people were moved further south and settled there by followin strict vegetarian food habits and culture. The religion and caste system was formed at this time and the famous vedic epics like Mahabharata were written.And the eating habits of people broadly divided by the existing caste systems such as Brahmins are pure vegetarian and the Kshatriya were non- vegetarians.
The Buddhism and Jainism formed by 600BC and it influenced some part of India. Mauryan dynasty was ruled India after this period and some major changes were taken place. King Asoka was a major follower of Buddhism and spread the religion to outside India.Maurya dynasty emphasized agriculture and that results to the grain base of Indian cuisine. After that several dynasties were ruled India such as the Gupta in north India and Hoysala and Chola etc in south India -all imparts their own contribution to this great cuisine.
By the arrival of Vaso da Gama in late 14 th century in Calicut,Kerala, the colonization was started in different parts the country by many westerners. The Portuguese were stayed long time even after the Independence in the states of Goa and Pondichery resulted that regional cuisine is strongly influenced by them. By the time North Indian cuisine is flourished by the new rulers such as Khilji dynasty and Mughal empire. The Mughal empire enriched the Indian cooking by the abundant use of milk and other dairy products, saffron , cashew and almonds and other dry fruit based cooking. The era of Mughals were the golden period of Indian culinary innovation ,were the new techniques and styles and new dishes were emerged and acquired a significant recognition as the royal cuisine of India.
In the south most regions were ruled by the local rulers and was not affected by this north Indian changes,-except in Hyderabad.Hyderabad was ruled by this north Indian rulers for a while and the Sultan of Hyderabad-Nawab- amalgamated those rich north Indian dishes with the typical south Indian style results to a perfect south Indian cuisine with a rich mughal effect. The long time colonization by the British witnessed a glorious period by changes and development in the history of India. British didn't influenced the Indian food,but they gave an international recognition to the Indian cuisine by carrying this along with them to the Great Britain, and curry acquired national status there after the fish n chips. Those period resulted a new style called Anglo-Indian cuisine and imparted other western culture to their life style.
After Independence, the sub-continent were divided into several countries-which followed the traditional food habits that shaped into the currant culinary tradition and results Indian cuisine is the most diversed and rich in the World culinary repertoire.
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