Indian Cuisine Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Indian Cuisine - Research Paper Example Although India is famous for its spices, some of its most important spices, including a few that are fundamental not only to cuisine but also to local healing traditions, are exotic. They include turmeric, garlic, ginger, fenugreek, asafetida, and cinnamon. Certain cultural perspectives contribute to India’s diversity and uniqueness in the matter of food (Nandy, 11). Contemporary forces of international business integration have picked up the themes of food as a social rite and food as health. This is to reorganize and formalize the cuisines of all nations in relation to the global needs (9). These advances have stimulated subtle transformations in the cultural features and significance of Indian cuisines. These changes take place regularly outside the array of vision of ethnographers, journalists and nutritionists writing on food or restaurants. Moreover, the conventional ethnographic concerns of food have fused now with a modern, more fluid politics of food in India. These ethnographic concerns of food include the uncontaminated and the impure, commensality and its absence, the cooked and the raw as well as the sanctified and the sacrilegious (Nandy, 10). Unique aspects of the Indian cuisine There are strict rules governing good eating habits in India. One is only allowed to use the right hand during eating. In addition, the palm of the hand should remain dry and clean as only the fingers are used. It considered a poor form of eating to let curry to dribble down the arm. It is right to use the right hand to tear off the pieces of chapatti and wrap them around vegetables and pickles, or use them to scoop curry into one's mouth. Mostly, when one mixes rice with other food, he uses the fingers to eat. Although some people will use a spoon for the accompanying curry, it is not the norm since service of most meals does not include any cutlery. The main use of the left hand is to drink water, to wave away the flies or to help oneself to more food. There is no more use of the right hand after one has started eating because that would be polluting the food everyone will serve from the common pot (Dandekar, 41). India is popular for spices an d herbs, and this greatly contributes to the choice of spices to use during cooking. Most of these spices are chosen mainly because of their medicinal values rather than for flavor. Many of them aid in digestion while others are antiseptic. In addition, most of these spices used in Indian food do not make the food too bland (3). On the other hand, these spices give trace amounts of antioxidants or other chemicals that help in digestion. Others act as effective mouth fresheners that prevent heartburn, curb nausea and help in digestion (Dubey, 4). The most common spice in India especially the southern region is Cumin. In addition, there is use of fruits, which are fried or dry-roasted before usage. Cumin fried in ghee usually flavor the seeds form a crucial part of curry powder and legumes particularly lentils by. The mixture of cumin is set up to savor its sweet and aromatic flavor (Kumar, 49). In recent decades, the South Indian food creations like vada, uthappam, dosai and idli hav e partially outdone the colonial fast food preparations in popularity. In fact, when one talks about Indian fast food, these are the food items that first come to one’