Foreign flavors of desi curry, their history is also interesting
Just as by considering the English language as the only path to success, we automatically get cut off from our own language and dialect, a similar crisis seems to be arising in the world of food too. Nowadays, there is a lot of noise in magazines related to tourism industry about how popular Indian tastes are becoming in foreign countries. It is being promoted as India’s Digvijay in the field of food. But there is a need to think with a cool mind whether Indian food is really conquering the world? Indian food had reached foreign countries since the colonial period and young men who could digest hot peppers and spices were seen eating it demonstratively as a proof of their masculinity. Most of them were football lovers from Britain or retired colonial rulers, who occasionally remembered their days spent in India. Additionally, these were considered affordable places to eat for expatriate South Asians. This situation has changed rapidly in the last few decades. After the Covid pandemic, apart from London, in America and Canada, as the rent of shops became very expensive, those selling only Punjabi butter chicken, maah di dal or Bangladeshi fish curry thought it better to close their business. But by now, a generation of affluent consumers of Americans and Europeans was emerging who, after traveling the world in the era of globalization, were beginning to know that Indian flavors are not limited to just curry.
Many famous chefs who popularized Indian flavors abroad had understood that today only the most expensive food can make them successful. He started giving a new shape to Indian flavors in Japanese and Korean Michelin star restaurants. These dishes made in fusion style are nominally associated with India. The irony is that today this has come to be considered an international standard. The trend of copying these celebrities is also increasing in India. It is a matter of concern that how long will our own flavors and well-known dishes survive in front of the Indian flavors imported from abroad?
We do not believe that food cannot continuously evolve and change. Just remember how rare tandoori or South Indian dishes were before independence and partition. India is the most populous country today and its residents are becoming familiar with their identity through the diverse flavors of this vast country, exploring their roots. Just as by considering the English language as the only path to success, we automatically get cut off from our own language and dialect, a similar crisis seems to be arising in the world of food too. By the time it came to curry, some relation of foreign curries with mutton, chicken, fish and egg curries could be felt on the tongue, although the memories of korme, kaliya and salan were beginning to fade. Today, the Samish or Niramish flavors which are becoming popular in foreign countries have little to do with what is being eaten in India.
