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By: Ranbir Sharma
By: Ranbir Sharma
Food and India are synonyms! Not really, but that is what it feels like for anyone visiting India for the first time. Food is such an essential part of daily lives in the Indian culture. Most of the conversations revolve around food, recipes, spices and aroma. The Indian cuisine is famous for its numerous dishes carefully prepared with the perfect use of spices and herbs. Indians love to eat and they also love to serve and enjoy seeing people eat and appreciate their masterpieces.
The cooking style is divided into North Indian and South Indian. India has 28 states and each state has its own famous dish and its own different style of cooking it. The main food in India includes wheat, rice and pulses being the most important. Indians pick out their food with a lot of patience and then prepare it with even more patience!
Indians firmly believe that a family that eats together stays together, and meal time is when bonding, sharing and talking happens. An Indian meal is meant to be shared, and everyone eats a bit of everything. Until very recently, eating out for most Indians mainly meant eating street food or at dhabas (eating joints on highways). In small towns this was not even an option and eating out only happened at weddings and celebrations. Sit down meals at restaurants is a very new idea for Indians, but then again, for most Indians it is not an everyday thing.
Food in India is just not meant for feasts, but Indians have food on their minds even when fasting. Fasts include fried treats made of only particular ingredients that are permitted during fasts. Therefore, fasting is actually a day long treat with even more tasty food. Indians also use food as a way of remembering and celebrating their dead. When someone in a family dies, after 13 days, close family and friends are invited for a sit down meal, consisting of all the favourite foods of the dead. This marks the end of the period of mourning.
Food is culture and culture is food, especially in India. Anything else comes second. Food, all across India is the main part of a person’s everyday experience. Indians love their food, which adds to the rich culture of this beautiful country.
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