Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors

If your first taste of India was in a high school world history class, where you struggled to engorge and disgorge the indigestible names and exploits of Mughals, rajahs, and viceroys, this book will cleanse your palate. Dr. Cunningham uses the story of the development of diverse modern Indian cuisine as a savory entree into the religious, ethnic, and political history of the subcontinent, much as Jules Tygiel uses baseball as a lens for studying America in his book "Baseball As History." Curry is indeed a compelling synecdoche for pan-Indian culture. And Dr. Cunningham seasons her prose as skillfully as any chef, even to the point of including some artful recipes as illustrations of her basically scholarly narrative.

This book covers the different groups that invaded India, and covers the specific foods, and attitudes towards food, that the invaders brought with them. The attitude towards food is particularly interesting. One example: The British who were there in the first half of the 1800's, the East India Company men, revelled in Indian food. But, after the rebellion, when the British in India were dominated by the Civil Service types, the attitude became one of condescension towards Indian food. Every effort was made to eat British. This isn't a cookbook, but there are some recipes included, which I thought well chosen. They are included for illustrative purposes. Some are not intended to be cooked, but some are. A final example: Vindaloo is a variation on a Portugese dish. The name means vinegar and garlic. If you find that sort of item interesting, you'll enjoy this book. I found myself using my Indian and Portugese cookbooks as references as I was reading. I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a very long time.

Eating Indian food may be one of the most intense culinary experiences in the world. This book delves into the history of what we consider to be Indian food. Surprise! What we eat in the west may be unrecognizable by Indians as Indian food. Needless to say, the restaurants in the west have adjusted Indian dishes to make them a little easier to eat for western palates unused to more authentic dishes. Even more interesting, in this book we learn that Dishes that are considered to be traditional Indian food were only invented after contact with the Mughals, who brought influences from Islamic cooking, and the Europeans, who brought various new ingredients from the Americas. For example, can you imagine Indian food without red chilis? Chilis were unknown in India until they arrived on Portuguese ships. This book will appeal not only to foodies, but also to those who are interested in Indian history and culture. I fully recommend this book.

Collingham's book, while quite well-written and easy to read, is also a substantial piece of scholarship. Among other things, Collingham is excellent in her de-bunking of the myth of an "authentic" Indian food. Any historian of medieval and early modern India knows that what we now think of as distinctively Indian is a hybrid of numerous cultures. After all, the chili pepper, potatoes, and tomatoes only arrived in India with the Portuguese starting in the 16th century! Her chai recipe is also quite good. (Why would you ever buy the pre-mixed stuff from the store?)

Entertaining read about the many different cultural influences brought to bear on Indian cuisine and the converse, its influence on other cultures. It is intersting to learn of the introduction of New World foods (potatoes, tomatoes,chili peppers!) to India by the Portugese and Spainiards. The profound effect it had on the British Isles where Chicken Tikka Masala was recently declared the national dish of Britain(which, although derided as nonauthentic, I liked). This book inspired me to try more Indian recipes, which the author provided in abundance.