A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food (Oxford India Collection

by K.T. Achaya

With its enormous variety of cuisines, food materials, and dishes, Indian food has become popular all over the world. The dominant flavor of this gastronomic Companion is historical, and drawing on a variety of sources - literature, archaeology, epigraphic records, anthropology, philology, and
botanical and genetic studies - it offers a gamut of interesting facts pertaining to the origins and evolution of Indian food. There are separate chapters on prehistoric cooking methods, regional cuisines, the theories and classification of foods, as codified by ancient Indian doctors, customs and
rituals, the etymology of food-words, and the shift towards vegetarianism with the advent of Buddhism and Jainism. This companion outlines the enormous variety of cuisines, food materials and dishes that collectively fall under the term Indian food.

Genres: Food, India, History, Food History, Cooking, Culinary, Cookbooks

364 pages, Paperback

First published December 17, 1998

Reviews

[Srujan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The structure and the format is not for everyone. But it conforms with the format of a dictionary and while it won't make for a enjoyable continuous reading, I quite liked looking up entries at random, every now and then.

[Adarsh Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, if a little controversial ( not in a stronger sense of the word) work; which at times reaches boundaries of fabulism; but is generally a treasure trove for trivia lovers.

Its definitely not a book which can be read at one sitting; simply because of its dictionary like structure; and not a "storyline" per se, if one wanted to read short nuggets of historical facts .

All said, what Salim Ali is to Indian ornithology, KT Achaya would be to Indian culinary history.

[Pankaj Singh]

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