History of Indian cuisine facts for kids
The history of Indian cuisine is super rich and diverse! It comes from the whole Indian subcontinent. India has many different climates, from hot tropical areas to cold mountains. This means there are lots of different ingredients available for cooking. Sometimes, what people eat shows their religion or social group. For example, some Jain people don't eat root vegetables like potatoes or carrots. This has made these groups very creative with the foods they can eat.
A big influence on Indian food is vegetarianism, which has been common among some Hindu and Jain communities for a long time. About one-third of people in India are vegetarians.
How Indian Food Developed Over Time
Ancient Times: Early Farming and Trade
Long, long ago, around 9000 BCE, people in the Fertile Crescent (a region in the Middle East) started farming. This idea slowly spread to the Indus Valley (which is now parts of India and Pakistan). By 7000 BCE, people in the Indus Valley were growing wheat and barley. They also started raising humped cattle and growing sesame. One of the oldest farming sites in South Asia is called Mehrgarh.
Around 3000 BCE, important spices like turmeric, cardamom, black pepper, and mustard were already being grown in India.
Later, around 2350 BCE, people from the Indus Valley traded with Mesopotamia (an ancient region in the Middle East). They sent things like wood, special stones, and ivory. Even Cloves, which came all the way from the Moluccas (in Southeast Asia), have been found in ancient sites, showing how far trade reached!
Vedic Period and Buddhist Influence
Ancient Indian texts, like the Mahabharata, talk about rice and vegetables cooked together. The word "pulao" (or "pallao") was used for this dish even back then. Ayurveda, an ancient Indian system for health, also talks about food as part of a healthy lifestyle, along with meditation and yoga.
Indian food also influenced other parts of Asia. For example, Thai cuisine learned how to use spices from Indians. They also got ideas for herbal medicines (Ayurveda). Some plants used in Thailand, like sarabhi and phikun, originally came from India.
Even Filipino cuisine has Indian influences! The Filipino Atchara (a pickled dish) came from the Indian achar. Rice dishes like bibingka and puto might have come from the South Indian puttu. During the Seven Years' War, when the British occupied Manila with Indian soldiers, they had to make curry with local ingredients. This might be how the Filipino dish kare-kare got its thick, peanut-based sauce, which reminds people of curry.
Food Exchange with Central Asia and Islamic World
Over many centuries, people from Arabia and Central Asia traded and shared cultures with India. This led to new cooking ideas. For example, the tandoor oven, which started in northwestern India, became popular in the Middle East.
European Influence on Indian Cuisine
When the Portuguese and British came to India, they brought new cooking methods like baking. They also introduced foods from the New World (the Americas) and Europe. Many vegetables we think of as Indian today, like tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, squash, and chillies, actually came from the New World! Even cauliflower was brought by the British in 1822.
The first Indian restaurant in the UK, the Hindoostane Coffee House, opened in 1810. This shows how early Indian food started spreading around the world.
Why Indian Food is Popular Worldwide
It's Loved Everywhere!
A study in 2019 found that Indian cuisine is the fourth most popular food in the world, after Italian, Japanese, and Chinese food. It's especially popular in countries like the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, Germany, France, and the US. A survey showed that 84% of people in the UK who tried Indian food liked it, and many other countries also love it!
The Secret of Spices and Unique Flavors
Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur studied over 2,000 Indian recipes. They found that Indian dishes use many different ingredients (about 7 on average), and each ingredient has many flavor compounds. The amazing thing is that Indian cuisine often combines ingredients that have very *different* flavor compounds. This creates a unique and balanced taste that is not found in many Western dishes, which often pair ingredients with similar flavors. It's like a secret recipe for deliciousness!
A Long and Global History
Indian cuisine has an 8,000-year history of different groups and cultures mixing together. This has created the huge variety of flavors and regional foods we see in India today. Later, trade with the British and Portuguese added even more to this amazing mix.
Many Types of Indian Food
Another reason for its popularity is the many different types of Indian food that have developed outside of India. These are called "fusion" cuisines. Examples include Indian Chinese cuisine (a mix of Indian and Chinese food), Malaysian Indian cuisine, and Anglo-Indian cuisine (which mixes Western dishes with Indian ingredients).
Millions of Indians live outside India, forming the world's largest diaspora. When they move, they bring their amazing food traditions with them! These cuisines often change a bit to fit local tastes, and they also influence the local foods. The international popularity of Curry is often compared to that of pizza. Dishes like chicken tikka are loved all over the world.
By 2003, there were about 10,000 Indian restaurants in England and Wales alone! The Indian food industry in the UK is worth billions of pounds. In the United States, over 1,200 Indian food products were introduced since 2000.
Indian food is also very popular in Southeast Asia because of the strong Hindu and Buddhist cultural influences there. You can find many Indian restaurants in places like Singapore, and even fusion dishes like "fish head curry" were created there. Indian cooking styles have influenced many other cuisines, including Cambodian, Lao, Filipino, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, and Burmese foods. The spread of vegetarianism in Asia is often linked to Hindu and Buddhist practices.
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