Culture is shown in many forms. Religion, food and language are an important part of the Indian way of life, yet the most important part to a daily life in India is the food. Food differs for each region in India: North, South, West, and East. It differs because of the different vegetables and grains that are grown in each region. North India grows wheat, and South India grow rice. Just by this simple knowledge people can understand how different North Indian food is from South Indian food. Every region has its own unique dishes. All of the dishes in the different regions combined is Indian cuisine. Indian cuisine is thought of food from just one place, but in reality it isn’t. Every region has some common dishes that are prepared in totally different ways because of the different styles of cooking. Indian food has evolved from generations. There is no such thing as authentic Indian food because Indian cooking has been changed every time a different kingdom takes over. For example, everybody thinks of chicken tikka masala as the best Indian food, but in reality tikka masala was created by British people. Many people don’t realize that food in every country isn’t authentic, but it is a combination of cooking styles made to create a cuisine. Indian cuisine has been made like it is just North Indian cuisine with naan and paneer, but it is a combination of North, South, West, and East Indian cuisines. Indian cuisine is made differently in each region because of the spices, the crops they grow, and the climate.
North Indian food is the most known food from India. This region of India consists of seven different states: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The food in this region is very colorful and vibrant because of the variety of spices. The spices that are often used are green cardamom, cloves, pepper, cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, fenugreek, turmeric, and especially saffron. Their staple food that are consumed daily are Indian breads like roti and naan. The dishes are known for their mild spiciness and creamy gravy. The food has a lot of dry fruits and nuts. Also the food contains a lot of dairy products. They have such a wide variety in flavors in their food because of the rich variety of fruits and vegetables that are able to grow their. Most people in the region are vegetarians, but there are many popular non vegetarian dishes also because of when the Mughals were ruling that area. The Mughals introduced non vegetarian food to the Hindus living in that area. They were strict vegetarians because of the religion but the Mughals taught them to eat non vegetarian food. One thing that hasn’t changed is their immense use of dairy products. A lot of people in rural North Indian own cows and buffaloes. The food gets cooked with ghee which is clarified butter. The rice has a lot of ghee in it. Also, they drink a lot of milk. Another way they consume a lot of dairy products is that they put cream in their dishes. They do this because they believe that it cooling to their bodies. Since they live in area that is very hot in the summer, they try to stay cooled by eating food that would keep their bodies cooled. That is the reason they use a lot of dairy products to make sure that all the spices wouldn’t keep them overheated. The way they the food tastes is mouthwatering. There are four different meals: breakfast, lunch, snack time, and dinner.
For breakfast there are many varieties of foods. The most popular breakfast dish is Poha, flattened rice mixed with onions potatoes and flavored with lemon and curry leaves. Also there is Gobi ka Paratha, which is cauliflower stuffed into paratha, Chole Bhature, which is chickpea curry served with a thin bread, and Dal Kachori, which is spicy puffed pastry. With their breakfast, North Indians usually drink a large glass of milk. Milk gives extra calcium to them since they are mostly vegetarians. Breakfast is a very important meal for people in North India. People want to get ready for a long day at work with a heavy breakfast. They believe that to have a good day you need to start the day with good food.
Many people eat a very light lunch because their breakfast was very heavy. People eat something light like a thali, a plate with a large variety of curries. A thali is brought on a large silver plate with more than 3 curries in small bowls on the plate with roti or rice. Also, people eat some rice with dal, steamed lentils mixed with oil fried spices. Some people who want an even lighter lunch choose to drink lassi. A filling yogurt drink. There are four types of lassies. There is salty lassi, sweet lassi, mango lassi, and plain lassi. The salty lassi and plain lassi is drunk while eating meals for digestion. After lunch people eat saunf to help with digestion.
Since they eat lunch very lightly, North Indians have another meal: snack-time. During snack time people eat a lot of street side food. A few examples are chaat, pani puri, and samosas. People enjoy eating the food because it is very light and flavorful. With snacks, people drink coffee, milk, or tea. Snack time might not be a very important meal, but it is a time where a lot of people will be on the streets enjoying food with friends and family. This is a meal where everybody spends quality time together.
In North India, people eat a very filling dinner. There are several types of curries and Indian breads. For a dinner people eat paneer tikka masala, a cottage cheese with a creamy tomato sauce made in spices, butter chicken, marinated chicken cooked in a sauce with butter, and Nihari gosht, marinated lamb simmered for several hours and drizzled with a little bit of rose water. These curries are usually eaten with naan. Naan is tandoori oven- baked flatbread. There are three types of naans. Plain naan, butter naan which it naan with butter brushed on it, and garlic naan which is naan with garlic and butter brushed on it. There are other Indian breads that are eaten like kulchas, parathas, and roti. Kulchas are also leavened flatbread like naan, but they can be stuffed. Parathas are unleavened bread that is thick and flat, and they can also be stuffed. Also, North Indians eat dum biryani which is rice baked with butter, spices, saffron, and lightly cooked chicken.
After eating dinner, North Indians try to eat a lot of digestive aids like paan, buttermilk, and jal jeera. Paan is betel leaf with betel nut, liquor rice seeds. There are many ways of making paan. The flavor of paan is never the same; each seller has their own way of making it. Buttermilk in North India is liquefied yogurt drink with mint and lemon. Jal jeera is water with cumin seed powder. After drinking a digestive drink, people enjoy many deserts. Few very popular desserts are falooda, kulfi, carrot halwa. Falooda is ice cream with rose water and tapioca seeds. Kulfi is a homemade ice cream with pistachios and sometimes rose water. Carrot halwa is shredded carrot in sugar sauce.
The western region of India consists of the most diverse cuisine in the subcontinent. It has a great variety of food which includes sweet and spicy, and vegetarian and non-vegetarian. This part of India consists of three major states: Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Goa. The people of this region speak Marathi, Gujarati, and Konkani. This region’s diverse ecosystem, religion, and language are all factors as to why the food of the west is so different.
Gujarat is the westernmost state in India, and is bordered by the Arabian Sea. Even though the state has a coastline, most of the food isn’t seafood, but vegetarian. This is partially because of the Jain influence which looks down on the abuse or killing of animals. Still, some people do eat meat. But, the only influence in this state doesn’t come from the Jain, most Gujarati food has a sweet side due to the influence of the Chinese. The people of this state usually eat their food thali style. Thali is a single plate that has a main dish, which is usually rice or a roti, and is surrounded by some curries, desserts, and drinks. Some of the sides include potato curry, dhokla, a spongy cube made of rice and chickpeas, and lentils. Kaju katli, a diamond shaped sweet made of cashew, milk, and sugar also known by the name kaju barfi, and mohanthal, sweet cubes made of flour, condensed milk, and sugar, are desserts that are present on a thali. A Gujarati meal is usually paired with a drink and one of the most famous is piyush, a thick creamy mixture of curd, buttermilk, and spices. Apart from the dishes mentioned, which are some of the most common and famous that the people of Gujarat eat from day to day, there are many other delicious foods in Gujarat which compose of its sweet and spicy style of cooking.
Like Gujarat, Maharashtra is also bordered by the Arabian Sea. But, unlike Gujarat, the Maharashtrians eat meat and seafood as part of their diet. Most Indians don’t eat beef or pork, so the main meats that are cooked are chicken and goat. Both of these non-vegetarian items are usually put into a Maharashtrian dish called rassa, a more liquified version of curry. Seafood is usually presented as a curry or pan-fried. The meat and seafood is either mixed with rice, bhakri, kind of like a Maharashtrian tortilla, or added to pilaf, a rice cooked with spices and vegetables. Along with meat and seafood, Maharashtra has very many delicious vegetarian foods as well. Mumbai and Pune are fast moving cities in Maharashtra, so most Indians incorporate fast foods into their daily diet. Most fast food is usually vegetarian in Maharashtra since it takes less time to cook. Some fast foods include pav bhaji, vegetable curry served between soft bread rolls, pani puri, a hollow puffed chickpea crisp filled with spiced water and chickpeas, and vada pav, a potato fritter eaten with masala and stuffed between a bread roll. Along with its vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, Maharashtra also has many delicious desserts. Puran Poli is a Maharashtrian sweet which is made of a mixture of lentils, jaggery and chickpeas stuffed inside an outer layer of milk, flour and ghee, which is basically clarified butter. Another famous Maharashtrian dessert is shrikhand. Shrikhand is made of strained yogurt that has been sweetened and is usually topped with pistachios, saffron, and cardamom. Just like desserts cool you down after dinner, the Maharashtrian drink kairiche panhe cools you down in the summer. Kairiche panhe is made of ripe mango and jaggery pulp. Almost half of Maharashtra consists of villages where inhabitants work outside in the hot sun to make a living, so they need to stay hydrated and energized with a cold drink. All of these foods, desserts, and drinks make up what we know as Maharashtrian cuisine.
When thinking of Goa, palm trees, people sipping coconut water, and the sound of water lapping the sand would probably be the first thing to cross someone’s mind. But, the food is a much more important part of what the state is. Goan cuisine is a unique blend of Hindu and Portuguese influenced food. The Portuguese ruled Goa for four and a half centuries and have had a very strong impact on the food of Goa since then. Vinegar, which was brought to India from Portugal, is a very important part of Goan cuisine. Most dishes use vinegar along with coconut and other coconut products such as coconut oil and coconut milk. Coconut is also used in one of Goas most famous dishes, xacuti. Xacuti is a curry made with poppy seeds, sliced or grated coconut and a large amount of dried red chilies. The meat mixed into xacuti can be chicken, goat, and since Goa has a lot of Christians, pork and beef is sometimes incorporated into the dish. Vindaloo is also a famous dish in Goa. Originally from Portugal, this dish is made from the spicy vindaloo spice and is usually served with fish. Most foods in Goa contain fish because of its availability. Along with delicious dishes, Goa also has many delicious desserts. Bebinca, a seven layered cake, is a very popular dessert in Goa. It is a made up of a mixture of flour, eggs, coconut milk, and nutmeg. Goa is a beautiful state with its long coastline and ocean breeze, but in the midst of all of that is its delicious, tasty food.
The eastern region of India is famous for its desserts and fish dishes. This part of India consists of four major states: Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal. The people of this region speak Bengali, Hindi, Bhojpuri, and Oriya.
Bihar
Jharkhand
Orissa
West Bengal
The south region of India is mostly known for its hot, spicy, fried food. Oily and spicy food are mostly found in the southern part of India because that’s where they grow chillies and oil goes well with chili. This region consists of many states such as Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. About 99% of the people in Telangana state are non-vegetarians. Each of these states have many different types of food that they eat every day or breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but they all have many common elements. For breakfast, they go to a place called a tiffin center which is a type of restaurant that serves food that is usually served for breakfast. Their staple food is rice because that’s what they eat for most of their meals throughout their day. Their taste of food is different from many of the other regions of India. Most South Indians prefer spicy and hot food, while other region like their food mildly spicy and at a mild temperature when they eat. For example, many South Indians have dosa, idli, vada, poori, and pongal for breakfast. These foods consist of masala, a type of spicy curry, or have a side of a type of masala. Some common meals that consist of masala that many South Indians eat are sambar, different types of chutney, and curry, any type of fried vegetable with spices. Chutney can be made out of spices, coconut, peanuts, and many other types of food that bring flavor to what one is eating. These foods add spice along with the blast of different flavors in the mouths of many.
Although these foods are considered for breakfast, people in this region don’t only eat these types of food for breakfast, but also for lunch and dinner. Many eat rice, pulao, a type of rice with vegetables, kichidi, biryani, and pulihora, type of rice mixed with tamarind, lemon, and other sweet or sour substances, for lunch. These foods are also eaten with curd, sambar (vegetables, spices, and lentils added into water), and curry. With a side dish of sometimes vegetable or cauliflower manchurian, fried vegetables or cauliflower with a style of Chinese seasoning and cooking techniques used when making them. Many spices and oily substances are used in making these lunch dishes. South Indians prefer to have rice as lunch most of the time because rice is a type of food that has lots of carbohydrates and fills up one’s stomach very easily. They eat with curry, sambar, rasam, and lentils for protein so they don’t only consume rice. Every once in a time, they have rice with South Asian pickles, finely chopped up fruit or vegetables and then marinated in edible oils along with many other spices. This adds spice, sometimes sweetness, and sourness to the rice. At the end of their lunch, they have rice with curd to cool down all the spices that they had. The meals that South Indians particularly eat become more mouthwatering towards the end of the day.
For dinner, they also have rice, pulao, biryani, and mostly the same items they have for lunch. After every meal, many South Indians eat something called paan or saunf for digestion. Paan is a bunch of mints and digestion elements wrapped up in an edible leaf. Saunf are a bunch of dry, roasted fennel seeds that Indians eat for digestion. Almost after every meal, South Indians drink a type of juice. They drink lassi, a creamy milk based shake, sugarcane juice, the juice that comes out of a sugarcane when squeezed, or badam (almond) milk, milk mixed with powdered almonds and sugar. At times of the day, adult South Indians drink chai, tea powder with water and milk. This drink gives them a boost of energy and keeps them awake throughout the day. Originated in Andhra Pradesh, menthi majjiga, buttermilk mixed with seeds, leaves, and chilies, is a common drink that many South Indians drink as a drink during the summer to keep themselves cool. Majjiga, buttermilk, can have many spices and elements incorporated with it to make the drink have flavor. Other than mixed with rice, pachi pulusu, can be drunk regularly to cool down from the hot days in India. People from South India eat food from other parts of India and the world too every once in awhile. Some mouthwatering deserts in south India are payasam, jaggery and sugar incorporated into milk, mysore pak, butter with sugar and flour as a cube like shape, and ladoo, round ball of sweetness. Other food items that most people enjoy in the southern part of India are bisi bele bath, rice with many spices and chillies, churumuri, vegetables with poha, murukulu, fried in oil batter made up of flour and water incorporated with many spices. These food are for snacks that are after lunch and around the evening.
Many restaurants such as Madras Pavillion, serve a variety of South Indian food. In India, there are many restaurants and tiffin centers on the side of the road. These locations are convenient for people who go to work and they can just grab their breakfast along with them while going to work. Tiffin centers are mostly found in South India because this region of India isn’t as developed in some places than others. Tiffin centers serve breakfast meals and can also be eaten for lunch and dinner because the breakfast for South Indians is so heavy. Some restaurants serve snacks along with main meals for profit. These snacks mostly consist of oil, masala, spice, and salt. These are one of the most common ingredients in food because that’s what the people get from the southern region of India. Some places in South Indian are more developed than others which is why some places serve food from other places in the world than others. Adapting food from other cultures is also a reason why there are many other religions in India. South India is mostly populated with Hindus which affects how the type of food they eat differ. Some sweets made at home are ariselu, flat sweet pancakes,
Even though it’s considered “Indian food,†Indian cuisine varies on many levels. The main categories are North and South. The North and South part of India is unique in traditions, languages, influences, and food. When clarifying the difference the difference in the food, one statement difference is the use of bread and rice . In the North one regularly eats breads and curries. These breads are referred to as “naan and roti.†They’re eaten with a side of aloo gobhi (potato and cauliflower) or palak paneer (spinach and cheese). When cooking these dishes, incorporating a sour element is necessary. A commonly used agent is amchoor (dried mango powder). Another popular seasoning is garam masala. Garam masala is a predominant spice mixture found in many dishes. Curries are also accented with dried fenugreek leaves. These meals are also finished with a cup of tea or chai.
Dishes in the South predominantly incorporate rice and lentils. Rice is a staple during mealtime, because it’s eaten with curries. Another very popular breakfast item is dosa (rice and lentil crepe). Idli (steamed lentil rice cake), rasam (tomato and spice soup), and sambar (spicy lentil stew) are all known dishes originated from the South. For the remarkable spicy element, the South uses red chili powder. Their sour ingredient is tamarind, which is found in many curries and stews. Also for added flavor, the South incorporates dried curry leaves.
This comparison barely compares their vast differences between the cuisines. There’s also West and East, which includes Goa, Gujurat, and West Bengal. They each have their own style and rich flavors. The food found in India varies based on the location. The same dishes are even referred differently within India. In Bangalore, a Southern state in Karnataka, a spicy stew is called huli. Although, in Andhra Pradesh, it’s called sambar. Also some communities differ between households. Lots of people enjoy meat during festivals like, goat and chicken. Although, lots of people also maintain vegetarian diets. Brahmins are people who cook vegetarian food without the use of garlic or onion. These food differences hugely refer back to religious purposes.
Indian food isn’t entirely based on location, but also family. When two people get married, their new family gets to enjoy a combination of two styles. For example, someone who originated from Karla probably eats short grained rice. They also may eat boiled and seasoned tapioca and fish curries. And coconut oil is used for all cooking purposes. Although someone from Delhi may eat lots of yogurt, breads, and be completely vegetarian. If people who originated from these two regions got married, they would enjoy a combination of food from Delhi and Karla. They might only eat meat on certain days, be in charge of certain dishes, or switch between rice and roti.
The North and South may vary in cuisines, but all regions enjoys certain foods. After completing a meal, everyone enjoys paan. Paan is a combination of betel leaf and araca. People chew paan to help their digestive system, and it is also used as a mouth freshener. For many important occasions, a meal instead complete without eating paan. People from the North, South, East, and West enjoy paan. Lots of Indian snacks are also eaten everywhere. Chaats and fried finger foods originate from all regions. They vary based on each region’s style and recipe. Pakora (chickpea flour fritters) and samosas (wrapped, deep fried vegetables) are popular snacks found all over India.
Cuisine in India differs broadly between regions. Each region enjoys certain dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each with their own influences. The location determines a lot of the food. Indian food varies from the coasts, village, streets, and borders. There’s authentic Indian food in the North, East and West, South, and also varies between each region. Marriage and family has spread and combined each of the North, South, East, and West’s flavors. These combinations truly make Indian food spectacular. Although, Indian food isn’t confined to just India, many places now have Indian restaurants. People everyone are enjoying the hot, fresh, and delicious food. Indian food has now been recognized for its unique and spicy flavors. Indian food has spread throughout the world and people from Chile, UK, and United States can now enjoy buttery and creamy chicken tikka masala.