Nearly every non-Indian who dines at an Indian restaurant in the UK orders chicken tikka masala. An English minister even described it as “the true national dish of Britain”! Browse through any food blog, and you are bound to come across statements like “I don’t know much about Indian food, except that it involves curry.” Any true-blue Indian would tell you that equating Indian food with only curry is like saying that Italian food is all about pasta. Why these stereotypes?
 
The myth of “true Indian cuisine”

In a nation with 28 states, more than 35 official languages, and thousands of dialects, it would be absurd to expect all the 1.1 billion-odd people to eat the same food. Probably it is this complexity that created convenient symbols of Indian food like curry and chutney. Why blame the West? Even within India, till recently, south Indian food typically meant idli-dosa-sambar to someone living in, say, Punjab. Similarly, a Tamil or Malayali housewife who could dish out a decent chole-bature would naively revel in having discovered the essence of north Indian cuisine. As for the West, their understanding of India’s gastronomical offerings was shrouded in myths like these:

• All Indian food is spicy and oily.
• Curry is the name of a dish. A more extreme version – it is the one and only Indian dish!
• All Indian dishes are cumbersome and difficult to cook.

The times they are a-changin’…

When globalization expanded Indian horizons, it did not spare the culinary realm either. With India touted as the next superpower, the world is eager to know everything about the country – including its food. As more and more Indians go abroad for their education and careers, the foreign influence is creeping into the Indian kitchen as well. The blogosphere has made it possible for all these culinary adventurists to exchange their recipes as well as advice about the ingredients, history of the cuisine and so on. As a result of these developments, restaurateurs are finally mustering the courage to venture beyond their “curries” and give the world a true taste of the varied, diverse, and absolutely fabulous Indian cuisine.
 
So, what is on your menu today? Kofta au gratin or broccoli-matar masala? You are bound only by your imagination –- shubh appetit!
 
Share a recipe or tell a curry tale! Are there any other myths about India it’s time we busted? Which ones? Is food the best way to win over the West? Or are we too hot to handle? Do we know much about other country cuisines?