Culinary Journey Through India

The history of Indian food is as interesting and diverse as the country and its people. It
dates back to 7000BC to the Indus valley. Indian food has been greatly influenced by the
then civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjodaro. The Dravidians of this region would
store their grains in granaries and the people of Indus valley were the ones to have laid
the foundation to Ayurveda, which later became the basis for Indian food. People of that
period probably ate wheat, rice, cows, sheep, goats, pigs and chicken. After the Aryan
invasion the Dravidians moved south taking with them their food habits.

During the time of Mauryas around 300 BC, animal sacrifices reduced considerably, thus
decreasing the meat consumption and many people turned vegetarians for religious
purposes. During the Gupta period cow was worshipped and many Indians stopped eating
cow and in later years after the Muslim invasions, many others stopped eating Pork as
was advised in Koran, the holy book of Muslims. So the mental, physical and spiritual
needs of people dictated the food habits.

Indian food since then has had many influences, be it Mongolian, Turkish, Persina,
Arabic, the Portuguese, The English, the Chinese. Today what we call the Indian cuisine
has made a journey that spans centuries of history.

Couple of Interesting Facts on Indian Food sourced from various researches of

historians

The Vijayanagara Kings were very liberal in granting provisions to their guests. Abd-ur
Razak, the Persian ambassador who came to Vijayanagara during the reign of Devaraya
II (A.D. 1419-1446), received rich daily provisions, about which he wrote in one fo his
books,"the daily provisions forwarded to me comprised two sheep, four couples of fowls,
five mans of rice, one man of butter, one man of sugar and two varahas in gold ". This
ration was for one individual for one day!

In ancient India, especially in Karnataka region, drinking liquor was a ritual and people
would get together at decorated pavilions, the goddess of wine would be invoked and
draughts of liquor was held on head as a mark of respect. The drink was then poured into
artistically shaped bowls with bird heads and carved from mother pearls, beautiful shells
etc., Drink was offered to elders first and later the youngsters followed. Friends, family,
lovers would all join in the ritual. Various snacks were consumed in between roast meat,
onion bondas, fried gram egg and fish fries as also peppery tender mangoes and to avoid
inebriation dose of ghee was recommended. EOS