Indian food
Indian food is as diverse as the country itself, with each region offering its own ingredients, cooking styles, restaurant staples, and street food classics. The curries most commonly found around the world are largely North Indian in origin, but beyond that, India’s food culture stretches into an enormous range of regional dishes, each shaped by local climate, history, and produce.
Rajasthan’s laal maans (spicy lamb curry) is a great example of how food reflects place: it was shaped by the state’s desert environment, and the use of dried red chillies was historically practical as well as flavourful, helping preserve the meat and build heat in a dry climate. Elsewhere, Punjab is known for rich, buttery dishes like butter chicken (creamy chicken curry) and sarson da saag (mustard greens curry), Kerala for coconut based curries such as fish moilee (light fish curry), and West Bengal for mustard laced dishes like shorshe ilish (hilsa fish in mustard sauce), each one reflecting the character of its region. In the north, bread often takes centre stage, while in the south, rice rules the table.
Street food is just as iconic, with favourites like vada pav (spiced potato sandwich), pani puri (crispy hollow shells with spicy water), bhel puri (puffed rice snack), samosa chaat (samosa topped with chutneys and yogurt), and pav bhaji (spiced vegetable curry with bread) found across cities and roadside stalls. These dishes capture another side of Indian food culture: fast affordable, and regional, often with each city putting its own take on familiar snacks.
