Culinary Rainbow

It is altogether different in the West. By and large most of them are meat-eaters with a preference for beef or veal—both taboo for the Hindu. Or ham and bacon abominated by Muslims. Their food tends to be almost bland. So wines are always welcome: whites with fish or crustacea, red with steaks, bacon, ham or pork. A European man of taste is a gourmet: he eats little but drinks well. An Indian is a gourmand, a big eater. He first whips up his appetite by drinking hard spirits; then stuffs his belly with dozens of varieties of pilaf, parathas, dals and vegetables followed by kheer, kulfi and gulab jamuns. He is unable to digest all that he has eaten and has to take slugs of chooran to belch out wind produced in his belly.

Different parts of the country have evolved regional cuisines of their own. Kashmiri Muslims eat the richest and greasiest of meat preparations consumed with mounds of saffron rice. A Wazwan feast can go up to 30 dishes largely based on lamb meat, including their favourite goshtaba meatloaf made of fresh mutton pounded in its own fat. A valeema (first post-marital feast) or mishaani comprise seven courses, all lamb based. Kashmiri Pandits eat much the same food but instead of onions use heeng (asafoetida). The Dogras of Jammu prefer wheat, bajra and maize to rice and rajma. The author quotes a Dogri verse to the effect that "a man can never fail in his missions if he eats radish on Tuesday, sweets on Wednesday, curd on Thursday, rai on Fridays, uses oil on Saturdays, chews betel on Sundays and looks into a mirror on Mondays."

Punjabis are great eaters but do not have much variation in their diet. From autumn to spring most Punjabi homes will have sar-son-ka-sag (mashed spinach leaf) with blobs of fresh butter eaten with makai or bajra rotis. They wash it down with litres of lassi. Right through the winter months their preferred sweet is carrot pudding (gajar ka halva). Since Independence Punjabis have specialised in tandoori chicken and fish which can be had at most dhabas.

From Delhi across the Gangetic plain to Bihar the legacy of Mughlai food predominates. Achaya gives an account of what the Mughals brought with them from the Middle East and how it developed in India. All the rulers of their dynasty, save Aurangzeb who was vegetarian and preferred fasting to eating, had developed tastes for delicacies. Roomaali rotis and varieties of kabaabs are legacies of their days. Most renowned restaurants of northern India take pride in their Mughlai cuisine.

Bengal's pride are its varieties of fish preparations starting from maacher jhol to the delicately flavoured fresh hilsa from the Padma. Bengal is better known all over the country for its mishti—sweets like rasgullas and sandesh. It is strange that till a few years ago Calcutta had no restaurant serving exclusively Bengali dishes.

Most of central India has mixtures of cuisines of the north and the south. Maharash-trians love shrikhand—a variety of sugared curd, Andhra's speciality is bagaara baigun (small aubergines fried with spices). Gujara-tis have evolved a cuisine which is entirely vegetarian and mildly spiced. For some reason they sprinkle powdered sugar on all their dishes. As a community, the Parsis eat the best food in the country with some dishes uniquely their own like paatra fish (fish steamed in banana leaves) and dhansak—a daal and meat preparation which though heavy is very tasty. Bombay Muslims have its counterpart in khichda which is in great demand during Ramadan.

Except for Goa, where fruits of the sea are consumed with feni made of cashew or coconut, the entire south specialises in idlis, vadaas, dosas and uppama eaten with spicy, steaming hot sambhar and coconut chutney. There is not a great range in south Indian cooking but it is tasty, light on the stomach and above all incredibly cheap. South Indian restaurants have spread across the length and breadth of the country. Virtually the only thing the whole of the country relishes in common is paapad, or pappadum, which is served with drinks and food.

This is not a cookery book of Indian recipes—they are available by the dozen—but about the genesis of different kinds of food that Indians relish. It is not meant for housewives but for writers on cookery and scholars who wish to know more about what they eat. It is a very useful reference book.