Regional Variations of the Indian Cuisine and the Logic Therein

chillibreeze writer — Rina Mukherji

I have always wondered about people who are parochial enough to insist on sticking to their own traditional cuisine while touring the length and breadth of this vast country.

Making allowances for dietary restrictions, I see no point in Bengali cuisine being insisted on when traveling in Kashmir or Kerala. This kind of insistence is perhaps the sole reason for many tourists falling prey to sicknesses, acidity or even worse in unfamiliar surroundings. It spoils the holiday, inconveniences family members, and horror of horrors, other fellow-tourists who are perhaps availing of the same package tour.

Leaving aside the trouble and strain of acquiring the essentials for the tourist’s traditional food, chances are that he/she would be consuming food that is ill-suited to the topography and climate of the place. To explain, let me elaborate a little.

Guides to North and South Indian food

Every cuisine takes into account the locally available varieties of vegetables, herbs and spices. Cuisines evolve through the ages on the basis of an understanding of local conditions. Generally, elders in a community give in their own contributions into polishing up a cuisine. Although it may not evolve on the basis of scientific logic, there is a great deal of thinking and observation that goes into it.

Take the Maharashtrian cuisine. One finds it lean and light. Comprising sautéed potatoes and vegetables, buttermilk, bhakris made of coarse grain, light phulka or chapatis, and light dal, it is ideally suited for the humid weather and heavy monsoons that typify coastal Maharashtra. Rich food can play havoc with a person’s digestive system here, and is hence avoided.

Coastal Gujarat is slightly drier than Maharashtra, and yet unsuited to rich curries or food. Hence, you have a huge variety of steamed preparations with oil-tempered seasoning. There are a good variety of dry breads with the right measure of clarified butter to offset the dryness in the climate. But again, heavy cuisine is avoided.

In Tamil Nadu, the hot, dry weather necessitates the use of light, fermented preparations, with a generous amount of curd and lemon to beat the heat. Clarified butter is used with rice, but the amount is just enough to prevent the body from withering away. Heavy food is indigestible, and hence avoided.

In Goa, coconut is generously used in curries, along with a good deal of spices and local herbs. Locals believe that the use of spices and herbs gets one to sweat and hence prevents accumulation of heat in the body. Sweating out the toxic waste is the best way to prevent dermatological problems.

On the other hand, the extremes of heat and cold and a very dry climate make it necessary to have rich food. In Punjab and Rajasthan, a dry climate necessitates the generous use of clarified butter in every preparation. Particularly in Rajasthan, dal battis are soaked in dollops of clarified butter, while a plethora of rotis are eaten with gatte ki sabji and other curries that use curd to beat the heat.

In both Punjab and Rajasthan, every meal is accompanied by a thick lassi. Since the weather is dry, the appetite grows bigger, while indigestion hardly ever occurs. The human constitution burns up extra calories, and hence must be fed more. A lean diet can result in fatigue and exhaustion. The severe winter of Punjab is offset by the generous use of garlic, onions and ginger in Punjabi cuisine, all of which combine to warm up the body and alleviates aches and pains.

Bengal, nestling in the Gangetic delta, has a hot humid climate and swampy weather, which makes it a breeding ground of disease. The surrounding greenery yields a wide variety of leafy vegetables, plantains and bitter herbs. Hence, fennel, fenugreek, neem and bitter gourd are widely used in preparations.

Using raw plantain and papaya in preparations prevents liver problems and offsets chronic ailments, both of which are common in the unhealthy climate of the deltaic region. Fennel and fenugreek are important constituents in many culinary delicacies, and shukto, the bitter vegetable preparation which many gourmets consider divine, is the best antidote for spring-summer diseases with ingredients like raw plantain, bitter gourd, fennel, and fenugreek making up its base.

It is another matter that each of these regional variations of the Indian palate is so dexterously developed by local genius, that taste is never compromised to medical logic. In fact, the ingredients are so scientifically interwoven in the preparation that individuals partaking of the fare, experience the best kind of natural cure.

Does it then make any sense partaking Goan food in Tamil Nadu, or vice versa? In Rome, do as the Romans do…and in any region of India, stick to the regional food if you desire to remain hale and hearty!

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—About our writer:

Rina says, "I am a senior Kolkata-based journalist who has had a chequered career writing on business, politics, law, science, medical research and a host of developmental issues –in short, everything under the sun. She is a highly-acclaimed environmental journalist whose articles have been widely published in India and abroad. I writes both English and Hindi, and has worked for several national dailies and magazines in Mumbai and Kolkata. She has freelanced for nearly all major Indian publications so far. I also holds a doctorate in African Studies, and has several academic articles to her credit in books and journals. She has qualified in classical Indian dance forms such as Kathak, Bharat Natyam and Kathakali, and has a special love for Hindustani classical music, which she considers a great form of relaxation. I loves to compose poems and pen short-stories and has had several of my works published in literary magazines. Painting in oils and water-colours, cooking, knitting and embroidery are her other passions."

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