Colleen Taylor Sen

Less an elegant read, than it is jam-packed with information about the globe-trotting phenomenon of food that is curry. I think that's kind of how this series works: an idiot's guide to the social history of foodstuffs that have traveled the planet. Something like a culinary conversation between the Indian subcontinent, the UK and just about every stop in the British empire, so-called 'curry' has evolved everywhere it has gone sometimes in a back-and-forth process between countries and cultures. I have a million different recipes to try after this and am looking forward to them all.… (mehr)

I'm not a big fan of Indian food so I had some reservations about this book. I happened to open the book in the chapter about Goa, a colony that Portugal clung to long after the United Kingdom and France withdrew their sovereignty over Indian territory. From 1947 to 1961, India and Portugal shared the sub-continent -- not happily, to say the least. But Goa had been Portugal's (de facto) for 451 years, and saying goodbye to a centuries-old exclave wasn't easy for a past world power.
Being Portuguese myself, "A History of Food in India" immediately caught my attention, beginning with Goa but then expanding to the rest of the book. The author's writing style is very approachable and not at all "academese" or jargon-filled. Nor does she water-down her text to cater to the stereotype of foodies. Highly recommended.… (mehr)