Flavours of Freedom: Indian Cuisine’s Influence Beyond Borders

Prologue

Nothing better underlines the idea that the story of civilisation is also the history of food and cooking. 

Indian spices and tastes....  now the mainstay in many parts of the globe... was perhaps the first international cuisine of the world.

The ancient craze for pepper was all about the food of course.... In the Roman Empire, the celebrity chef Apicius wrote a famous cookbook in which 350 out of 500 recipes from spiced flamingo to curried ostrich used pepper and Indian spices... 

One got the impression that to go to a high-class dinner party in Ancient Rome was to go All the Way To India laden with gold in exchange for pepper and spices

– Pliny the Elder 

At Home 

Alas for Indian cuisine to be accepted institutionally in her home country was a slow tryst with destiny, not fully or substantially, but, thankfully surely. 

The difficult years of the colonial era were a hegemonic combination of European, English and Anglo-Indian traditions that ruled the high tables of clubs and the very few luxury hotels in major Indian cities. Jalfarezi, rissoles and puddings with some hints of India did make fleeting appearances. 

The early uprisings of Indian tastes were probably available at the Taj in Mumbai (sort of Vindaloo Potpourri) and the Clarkes Chain in the United Provinces. This is really how the India story started. 

The Clarkes particularly would have a transformative impact on emerging brands in India.  

I am reminded of a Hindustani quote like so:

  ‘Khoob parda hai ke chilman se lagey baithey hain

  Saaf chuuptey bhi nahein, saamnein aatey bhi nahein‘

The Clarke’s Avadh had pioneered Avadh or Mughal style and even Aristocrat cuisine which then found its way to several other chains. It certainly had an impact on ITC’s forays into Kitchens of India. 

A very significant debut, embracing a version of Indian cuisine like never before seen or experienced. Other notable influences came via The Ashok Hotel and to a lesser extent from The Oberoi Delhi.

A war of cooks and master chefs ensued and in the blood bath that followed it was a free-for-all. However, it did set the agenda for our hotel cuisine of the future.  

Post-Independence to the present, there is an efflorescence and rediscovery of regional and local cuisine. With time and the movement of people from one city to the other in search of trade of work, regional restaurants begin to flourish in states and cities outside their native region, with Bengali restaurants in Mumbai, and Kashmiri restaurants in Bangalore. There is an exploration at the intersection of Indian and international developments (e.g. nouvelle cuisine, modernist cuisine) in concept, preparation, and presentation.

India’s tradition of culinary excellence is reflected in its diverse and varied cuisine concepts. Chain restaurants have evolved nouveau presentations, whilst encouraging a return to the roots, supporting communal dining as ancient as the land its flavours, is to contemplate the heart(h) of civilisation, its muldahara!

The 20th century was marked by the dissemination of Indian cuisine to many parts of the world, including South Africa and Jamaica. This influence came by way of Indian immigrants to these countries. Bunny chow, a popular South African dish that consists of a hollowed-out loaf filled with curry, is an example of an Indian dish tweaked to serve as a more potable takeaway.

The Flavours of Freedom in Jamaica, roti wraps, dhal, rice and peas (an adaptation of pulao), and curry goat, became runaway favourites. Curry, chicken tikka masala, tandoor and balti take off in many Commonwealth countries.  

All was not well though. The species of food writers in the post-liberalisation of India pounced on the notion of ethnic Indian cuisine and imposed expensive imported tastes on the hapless community of luxury hotels and users. 

Luxury they stated was about caviar. Blue cheese imported seafood, etc. etc. 

Eating with one’s hands was reverse snobbery. 

They became what I call the Evil empire, demanding change and obsequiousness. 

The faint-hearted succumbed and yet time is not linear, explained our ancient sages. It is a circle. The core concept of Karma is that what goes around comes around. The axe forgets, but the tree remembers… The resurgence of India’s cuisine and in fact regional and even inventive Indian cuisine restaurants are now flagbearers of that moment of truth. Indian cuisine is no longer a niche but a market itself, competing chains striving for market share and domination.

Awards recognition and respect 

The generous tenet of Indian philosophy, Vasudeva Kutumbakam, perhaps expresses best the nature of India, her unique identity as the cradle of civilisation and meeting ground of cultures over millennia.

Epilogue 

From Emperor Ashoka to the modern times, swadeshi was the principle of local self-sufficiency - that whatever was produced in the community was to be consumed by the people of the community. It emphasised local and seasonal foods. Trading or purchase of goods and services from outside the community was to be kept to a minimum, and kept to absolutely essential requirements. It centred on homegrown, handcrafted products – not mass production, but production the Indian ethos, all aspects and phenomena of nature belong together and are bound in a physical as well as metaphysical relationship. India’s approach to the environment is a part of its living legacy, which often seems embattled and imperilled, yet is endowed with an uncanny and time-tested resilience.

Catering to something more than just need, the craft of cuisine has had to keep up with humankind’s expanding vistas and interests. Variety has always been the hallmark of the Indian civilisation’s culinary traditions. In that resilience, there is hope and promise for India and the rest of the world.

  Jiski khushboo se mehek utthe fizza, jiski rangat se bhi aa jaye maza,

  ho nafees aur lazeez har luqma, zaiqa iska ho har ek se juda,

  khaa ke ho jaye khush jo mehman hum bichhaate hain wahi dastarkhwan! 

Author Bio: Diwan Gautam Anand is Founding Trustee, Cuisine India Foundation