How are western versions of Indian food different from the real item?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

Obviously I'm on another of my asian cooking kicks (I constantly rotate!) and I've learned about Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine - however - it seems like much of what we know about "Indian Food" in the US is similar to what we call "Chinese Food" here in the States - a made up cuisine for Western tastes.

Chicken Tikka Masala has been called England's Favourite Dish - but it's just that - English. It seems, depending on which legend you subscribe to, that it was made to enrich what Indians had long perfected - tandoori chicken. It seemed too dry for the English palate - GIVE ME SOME BLOODY GRAVY! hence - the dish my father exposed me to as an 11 year old turned out to be...um..a scam. A delicious scam which I will cherish and feed my children - just under a more honest pretense.


Anyway, I'm curios about what REAL Indian cooking is like. Have you been to the "sub"-continent? Are you from there? Are your parents, grandparents, great..great..etc...?

And bring a larger discussion, always! For instance, is the sushi we eat in America anything like what is served in Japan? Is US Kimchee like the real deal? Is the fish sauce I get in my asian market really like the real McCoy?

[jonolover]

1. About dryness....

Let me address one aspect of your post...the tandoori chicken being too dry for the western palette. In general, that is not necessarily typical of Indian dishes; they all are not dry, nor are they all served with gravy.

The thing is we (I am Indian, lived in India for 20 years, love and make it a lot) have lots of different kinds of soups, sauces, and chutneys on the side that not only provide the "wetness" but also enhance or accentuate or even add new flavors and senses in your mouth.

A lot of the times, these sauces and chutneys are made with ingredients that also have some sort of medicinal significance like ginger, turmeric, coriander, good old red chillies etc.

I would say Indian food is not Indian food without its sauces and chutneys. I love em!

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

2. That's what I think gets lost. We seem to want our "Indian Food" like our

"Chinese Food" - give me a gelatinous, saucy mix over a bed of rice. This is neither how the Chinese or Indians eat a traditional meal, or at least my asking old world folks has told me this. With Indian food in particular I notice people never eating the condiments or assorted accompaniments to the dish - not that I really know what I'm talking about. Something tells me that I'm not having the authentic experience I'd hoped I was paying for.

[NewJeffCT]

16. Chinese food in the US is generally a lot sweeter

than Chinese food in China or the various US Chinatowns. A lot of meals have some sort of sweet brown sauce put onto them here. Fried rice in China is generally a lot lighter than it is here.

There are a couple of good Chinese places (according to my Chinese wife...) in the Hartford area if you get around to it before you leave - Szechuan Garden on the eastern side of West Hartford on Farmington Ave in the same building as the West Hartford Inn; and China Pan in the strip mall next to West Farms where Borders & Staples are...

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

28. If you're ever down in North Haven there's a place called Dynasty across

from the Showcase Cinemas - It's my favorite yet.

[NewJeffCT]

30. I'll have to ask about it

My wife has a friend that lived in Hamden near East Buffet and might know the place. (well, East Buffet just changed their name to East Melange and cut back on their number of offerings...)

I used to go to the North Haven cinemas a lot with a woman I used to date way back when, but always went to a local Japanese place with her.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

43. I hate that sweet sauce the use

I'm lucky to have a local place that knows I like mine the old fashion way.

[NuttyFluffers]

7. exactly, at some buffets its criminal how the chutneys are ignored

pickles, chutneys, raitas are there for flavoring and blending the dishes. like i can't imagine some of the spicy dishes without a raita on the side.

but i would suggest people to go to a restaurant with someone who is familiar with how to eat something -- otherwise one would never know (unless you observe those around you who know what they are doing).

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

8. I feel that it is American laziness with a pinch of xenophobia

Give it to me on my terms! Especially in a buffet setting. What a truly American way to eat!

[denverbill]

13. It might be laziness. But I don't think so.

Personally, if I go to an Indian restaurant, I have no clue how the various ingredients at a buffet table are used. If I see a sauce I'm unfamiliar with, I have no idea what to use it for so I may skip it rather than risk putting hot curry sauce on my rice pudding and end up throwing it away after taking one bite. People also don't like to look stupid which doing the above would obviously do.

I think it would be nice if the restaurants not only labeled the foods (which they frequently don't) but additionally if they told you how the foods are traditionally eaten. I think many more people would use the sauces and condiments if they knew how to use them correctly.

[lukasahero]

18. Or those who don't know how to "use" the food, could, you know, ask.

Just a thought.

My experience has been that most of the waiters/owners are more than happy to share the customs etc of their country when an American actually bothers to ask them.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

42. That's a good point too - maybe we are too hung up on never asking when

we don't know about something.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

22. Good idea. I would like that.

[Redstone]

3. India's a big durn country with a ton of different

subcultures, so I'd be willing to bet that the Indian food you get here is likely to be completely different from what you'd get there although just as likely to be exactly like what you might find in some specific villlage or neighborhood there as well.

Does that help? I bet it doesn't.

Redstone

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

5. It doesn't but it makes sense

:thumbsup:

[NuttyFluffers]

4. it can be... just depends on where you go, just like everything.

hell, most of the basic ingredients are available for just about all international cuisine where i live. most major cities should be relatively the same. then all you need to do is eat at some friends' houses where they still cook traditionally.

but here's the funny thing, a lot of "traditional" cooking really isn't all that. remember, america, basically just modern society, but especially in america, you have access to more ingredients, more food, more overall knowledge diversity than what most cuisines had when being formulated. so some cuisines will find "hey, that's neat and tasty! let's add that!" and it keeps evolving. it just happens to evolve faster in america in major cities than in their original places.

like, traditional spanish paellas comes to mind. the traditional stuff is good, but rather limited in ingredients (a la valenciana or galiciana, etc). the new world paellas are rich in ingredients and availability so they are much more lush and desirable. same thing goes with sushi. most of the creative tasty stuff was invented by koreans being creative and then french and americans running with it. japan has good sushi, but to be perfectly honest, i've had better in america. there's just more to choose from. and i ate at some of the nicest places in japan -- it's good, but it's limited creatively. america is soooo not limited creatively in food, at least in the big cities. (psst - but the japanese "western food" generally tasted better than here. don't tell anyone!)

there's tons of places to order traditional indian, but you'd have to do some shopping around. also you have to remember most dishes become regionally adapted. so a kerala masala will bear next to no resemblance to a goa masala for the same dish. cuisine is really complex, so outside of a few obvious "western favorites" you are going to have to do serious digging for separating the "authentic" from the "westernized." good rule of thumb, which i'm sure you already practice, go where the "natives" go. a bunch of punjabi people frequent a certain restaurant, assume that's more authentic than Bob's Big House o' Tandoori.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. You bring to mind the italian vs american pizza issue/ While it's clearly

a dish that comes from the pasaage of italians to America the modern American idea seems to be "this would be great on a pie - PUT IT ON!" whereas the Italian concept seems to be simplicity and refinement. Again - I'm playing Devil's Advocate - a cherished role.

[NuttyFluffers]

9. true, but we have just about all the italian simple varieties here too

so we aren't missing much if anything. want focaccia? what type? traditional? which region? want nouveax focaccia? what mixed cuisine?
we have traditional italian pizza, chicago style, new yorker style, california style, hell hawaiian, japanese, and southwestern style. it's all here.

it's good to know the basics to know a cuisine, but you get all that and more here. (and really, sometimes there's nothing better than a greasy gut buster of a pizza with crazy bread and buffalo wings. and then sometimes i feel like artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes. :shrug: black olives, garlic, and basil is all well and good, but really... the pizza has been improved, just by sheer diversity count alone.)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

12. Japanese Style

:scared:

[NuttyFluffers]

52. y'know, mayonaisse and creamed corn pizza is pretty tasty

it just sounds scary at first.

but then you can throw me anywhere in the world and i won't starve.

[sir_captain]

26. To be completely fair here

pizza was technically invented in NYC.

Robert Sietsema, the Village Voice's food editor and restaurant critic, says, "The joke's on them. Pizza was invented in the U.S." The Italians are mounting a rearguard action, trying to claim pizza as their own, but it's all a marketing ploy, he said. He says pizza as we know it was invented in New York, by Italian immigrants such as Gennaro Lombardi, whose pizzeria Lombardi's, on Spring Street, opened in 1905.

http://www.forbes.com/2002/08/21/0821feat.html

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

65. Forbes can say all it wants but

pizza was not invented in NYC... the early forms of pizza were the food of the peasant class in the areas around Naples in the 15th century and earlier. Pizza was described in detail in an early 16th century literary piece.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

66. Forbes can say all it wants but

pizza was not invented in NYC... the early forms of pizza were the food of the peasant class in the areas around Naples in the 15th century and earlier. Pizza was described in detail in an early 16th century literary piece.

[liberalpragmatist]

10. Indian food isn't as inauthentic as "Chinese" food

You do mention that chicken tikka masala is a British invention. However, it is now a favorite in India as well, having been wholly adopted and claimed as a child. Today, you can get "Chicken Tikka" burges and "Chicken tikka subs" at McDonalds and Subway in India.

Generally, there's more mixing. And a LOT more vegegarian. Meat's generally expensive and more for special occassions - and remember that a HUGE portion of the Indian population is vegetarian.

Again, the question is "what is authentic"? Indian food, from my experience, being a second-generation Indian-American, is relatively authentic compared with Chinese and Mexican foods which have been wholly co-opted and become heavily Americanized. Indian food is distorted, but it's not quite as much. Curries ARE very popular. Tamarind, massala and other spices are in BIG abundance. Tandoori food is very popular (mainly in the North).

So what are the differences?

For one thing, most of the popular Western dishes are very popular among the Indian middle class, and most top restaurants and five-star hotels in India will serve very similar dishes. It's the street-food, the "dhabas" that are different - sauces are less cream-based.

Also, traditional Indian food has a MUCH heavier emphasis on breads than most Westerners experience. Yes, Indians eat a LOT of rice, and rice is a major staple. However, various flatbreads - rotis, naan, uthapams, pooris - have a MUCH bigger role in Indian cuisine than in the Westernized versions. In Western restaurants, they're typically served as the "pre-course breads." In actual Indian cooking, the breads ARE the main course, to be mixed with the various curries and sauces, the chutneys, and especially the subjis.

Subjis aren't that common in Western restaurants - basically they're blended, spiced vegetables. Usually no curry sauce. And typically, that's what one eats with rotis. Those typically aren't served in Indian restaurants all that much.

Above all, India is an astonishingly diverse country. Saying "Indian" food is really like asking "what's European food"? The food served at restaurants is really Punjabi food. Punjab is where the Brits were largely based, in and around Delhi, and that's where most of their food was adopted. Other regions have their own very different types of food.

And of course, you miss out on the other street foods - nobody in America has caught onto chat - mixes of puffed rice, lentils, tiny chopped vegetables, and chaat spices which are then eaten by itself or in puffed hard, tiny pooris called "pani pooris" - very popular for snack.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

11. You are my new favorite DUer! That was exactly the response I was hoping

for!

Thank you. I would imagine saying "Indian Food" is more like saying "what is western hemisphere food?", the variety is so immense. The vegetarian aspect I would have guessed off the bat. I was in a very good place in Hartford and they had BEEF vindaloo!!! I literally gasped. That would be like being in a Moroccan restaurant and ordering pork sausage. But then, I thought, I have no idea where the people who run this place are from. Nor do I really know what Moroccan people eat in Morocco. And I have no real idea what I'm talking about. How typically American to think I know a people by some prepackaged notion and then, when confronted with a problem with it, I realize I'm actually clueless.

[liberalpragmatist]

50. Oh, here's a good link:

http://www.food-india.com/indianCuisine/

Explains a lot. Let's be honest though - the truth is India has always been a melting pot. A lot of the food came in with the Mughals and other invaders. So I wouldn't obsess over not having something "authentic." Just enjoy it. And if you're curious, seek out things that aren't served in most Indian restaurants.

One tip is to go to large Hindu temples. Where do you live? If you do live near one (NYC has a HUGE one), go there for lunch. Seriously, it's cheap and you get very authentically Indian food. Now, you may or may not like it, but it's worth a try. Remember that what's served at restaurants is typically the Indian foods that are most accessible to Westerners - foods that are universally tasty. Many other dishes are much more bland or have weird, acquired tastes. Some have a very sour taste, for example. A lot more lentil-based foods as well.

[NuttyFluffers]

53. vindaloo is just a sauce pretty much

it's like saying... bbq something, or kung pao something. sikhs and muslims can eat beef, and vindaloo, if i remember correctly, is more prevalent in the new delhi & punjabi area (where more muslims and sikhs would be) so beef vindaloo wouldn't be all that odd.

seriously, the best way to find out is hang out with a bunch of south asian friends and go tasting food everywhere. my friend finds that he doesn't like much southern jainist/tamil cuisine, finding it rather bland to his palate. whereas i love idli with my dal, but then i'm just as likely to throw my idli into chicken maharaja. and i've been known to enjoy a fry bread atop my carrot halwa and rice pudding on the side. meh, i'm a barbarian. ;)

[tenshi816]

21. I find your post very enlightening,

especially since I posted elsewhere on this thread about my bad experiences dining out in India.

I think the problem for people travelling like I was (backpacking) is that we didn't know where to eat, and didn't know who to ask. Even when we found English speaking locals, it didn't mean they necessarily knew a good place to recommend.

We did eat some truly dire food while we were there, and I was desperate to find some really good restaurants but our guidebook wasn't helpful at all. We also chose to stay out of hotel restaurants or western-style restaurants because we went to India to get away from that kind of thing.

One thing I really did like was a southern Indian dish - a type of "pancake"-like bread that was served with little bits of things to eat it with.

I'm also a big biryani fan.

Next time, I thing I will check with Indians living here before going back there so as not to make the same dining mistakes.

Fantastic place, India. I loved it all, but feel especially lucky to have been able to spend a week in Kashmir, since it isn't recommended for western tourists anymore because it's considered too dangerous.

[liberalpragmatist]

51. Here are some tips

And don't quote me as some expert because the truth is I'm more American than Indian, having been born and bred in the US of A.

But I would advise if you ever go back, don't ignore the hotels. Hotels often serve the best food quality-wise and it's very good. Don't eat at a hole-in-the-wall hotel, but eat 3-star hotels, you'll be able to get very authentic, affordable foods. At 4 and 5-star hotels, you'll find more expensive gourmet foods. Great stuff, but somewhat similar to what you'd get at a typical Indian restaurant (though often with FABULOUS Cakes, pastries, and western deserts).

If you can, go with an Indian friend, they'll help show you around and recognize what are reputable places to eat and get authentic food without ruining your gastrointestinal system. And if you can, you'd be well-served to eat in actual homes. Not only will the food be safe, it'll be quite good and you'll really get to know the culture while you're at it. Now, I admit that could be difficult to arrange, but if you can, it's your best bet.

You'll also be better off going back today because in the last ten years, food options in India have really soared. So if you need a break from being adventurous, you can very easily grab something at someplace more reputable or even a food court - of course, in some ways that's unfortunate, but it can stil be nice to find someplace away from home as a base, just in case. And nowadays, with virtually everyone speaking English, you can get around pretty easily.

[tenshi816]

55. Thanks for the advice -

but, oh, how I hate hearing that India now has things like food courts! Seriously, I hate the idea of the Americanization of India. I'm glad that the economy there is taking off, but I would hate for India to lose the qualities that made me want to go there in the first place. I find your advice about eating in hotels very useful, especially since we avoided posh hotels like the plague because we figured all the food would be westernized and we didn't want that. Obviously, we were way off the mark there.

It's funny you mention eating in actual homes, because when we were in Delhi, we stayed in a small bed & breakfast that was in someone's home. Since we had flown into Delhi from London, it was our base and as we came in and out of the city on more than one occasion, we kept going back to the same B&B because although it was very basic, it was very clean and we liked the owners. The people who stayed there were generally Europeans, Americans and Israelis. The thing is, the owners, in trying to accommodate what they assumed were western tastes, served the same thing for breakfast every day: dry white toast with grape jam and instant coffee!

Despite the problems I had with my normally robust gastro-intestinal system, I'd go back to India in a heartbeat. It's a beautiful and complex country and I loved travelling there. (I still regret not going on a camel trek in Rajasthan and it's on my to-do list for next time.)

[liberalpragmatist]

60. Yeah, it's a somewhat ambivalent development

That being said, much of the food served in the food courts IS Indian food - most of it, actually. So at least there's that.

To be honest, at posh hotels the food is pretty Westernized, but you can still get some authentic stuff. The most authentic stuff will be in 3-star hotels - good, but not really posh hotels.

[China_cat]

14. I would recommend

Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran if you'd like a taste of what family cooking is like in India. (Recommended by an Indian friend not long in this country)

For ingredients you may not be able to find locally, try http://www.ishopindian.com Their prices are excellent and the products are wonderful.

[leftofthedial]

15. the wait staff wearing cowboy hats and chaps

ruins it for me.

And when those coyotes start howling, well, it's just downright creepy.

[XNASA]

17. Tandoori in India is not red like it is here.

The red is just food coloring. Why Americans need their tandoori colored red is beyond me...but that's the way it is.

We have a pretty authentic Indian restaurant near our house. The host has told me that they try to make things as close to real Indian cooking as they can...for example...

They don't offer Chicken Tikka Masala. They do have Chicken Makhani, but no Masala.

You're making me hungry. And Klay Oven is just down the street from work.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

23. And their vindaloo rocks!

[tenshi816]

19. Hmm - complicated question

because there are so many regional dishes.

I've been to India and found the food unrecognisable to what we get in the UK. Mostly it was nearly inedible - bland and unappetizing. Much of the meat is pretty suspicious too. Call me odd, but I can't bring myself to eat something called simply "meat curry".

I'm not a picky eater, either. I've always had an adventurous palate and adore spicy food. That was one of the biggest disappointments for me, that the food by and large wasn't spicy. I'm the kind of girl who can eat vindaloo and not break a sweat, so that's the kind of thing I missed.

The best two "proper" restaurant meals I had were at a Chinese and a Lebanese restaurant in Delhi. The Lebanese place was the best.

Eating chapatis with vegetable dhal in Kashmir after going on a 20-mile hike and running into a bear was tasty too, but it may have been from sheer gratitude at not being eaten myself.

It didn't help that I got gastro-enteritis from the water - no, not from voluntarily drinking the regular tap water that no visitor to the country should drink (because we've been so cossetted our systems can't take it). It was from either the dodgy "bottled" water we bought from vendors that turned out to be untreated tap water poured into bottles and fitted with new caps, or from eating food in restaurants with less than hygienic kitchens. I lost nearly 30 pounds in just over a month (not a recommended way to diet) and ended up at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London when I got back to the UK.

Still think it was a brilliant place to visit though!!!

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

24. I'd love to go!

Thanks!

[tenshi816]

34. India truly is one of the most amazing places on earth.

Happy memories, in spite of the gastro-enteritis! It's a fascinating and complex country and I would love to go back.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

38. I'd love to go to the Kumbh Mela - the largest gathering of humans in

Earth's history. Every 12 years they have it!

http://www.kmp2001.com/

[crispini]

20. Most of what you get in the Asian markets

are the same products that are offered overseas, at least when it comes to fish sauce, packaged curries, etc. Although some of the canned and frozen prepackaged stuff, even if it's from "over there," is nowhere near as good as the fresh original.

In my experience, Thai food gets "Americanized" in some restaurants, others are more faithful to the original. So I just pick my favorite restaurants and eat there. Any Thai dish with carrots in it is waaaaay inauthentic. Also the peanut sauce that Americans are so fond of is very, very rare in Thailand and is more of a southern Thai / Malaysian thing. Also, even an "average" spicy dish over there will pretty much burn your lips off. They tone down the volume considerably.

Now, there ARE a lot of things you can get there that you just can't get here, but most of the really good stuff, you can find somewhere. The really weird stuff doesn't make it over here, but I don't miss fried crickets, intestine soup, or cockroach sauce.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

25. Cool - I figured as much. We have a very large asian grocery store in CT

I love the place - it has changed my life as I am an obseesive cook who loves expirimenting. My fiancée yells at me because I'm always bringing some new sauce home - well that is until she eats what I cooked :D

[crispini]

32. Make mangos with sticy rice sometime.

Closest you'll ever get to heaven on this earth. O8)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

36. I love sticky rice!

Recipe?

[crispini]

39. It's easy squeezy.

Fresh mangos
Sticky rice
Coconut milk.

Top rice with coconut milk and mangos. YUM! Do you know how to cook sticky rice?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

41. Yup - I have the steamer basket and pot and everything!

Thanks!

[crispini]

44. wow, you're hardcore!

:thumbsup:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

47. It's all because of my Grandma (RIP) who was from Lithuania - she made

sure her boys (my brothers and I) knew how to cook. Plus my Dad turned me onto things ike sushi when I was still a curious youngling. I hope to do the same with my chillin'!

[NuttyFluffers]

54. closest to heaven i had was thai/amer.indian/southwest fusion

ruby chicken, green & red curry, pad thai, satay, bbq ribs, chicken strips, flat bread tacos and oceans of peanut sauce. add coca cola, banana fritters and mango rice with pistaschio ice cream and die in bliss.

unfortunately the restaurant got a wonderful offer they couldn't refuse and moved to oklahoma city, ok. so you bastards in OK better go see tavin's thai and bbq lest they run out of business and i'll be forced to hunt your ass down like an avenging gastronomic angel! bastards! don't know how good you got it. ribs and curry you fools! ribs and curry!!! with peanut sauce! aaagggghhhh!

[NewJeffCT]

33. we go there just about every week

though, since we moved east of the River, we maybe go every 2 weeks... My wife used to be so naive about American slang that I had to explain to her about the double entendre in the name "A Dong"

But, I know Chinese that come from the Amherst, Mass area to go to A Dong on Saturdays or Sundays.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

35. I go weekly. The place is HUGE!

Where else will you find such a wide selection of organ meats, poultry feet, stomach linings and entrails on which to sup? :)

[NewJeffCT]

40. Main Street in Flushing, Chinatown in NYC or Boston are it

I've seen an 'A Dong' truck down on Main St in Flushing on more than one occasion. Other than that, A Dong is the only place in CT or Western Mass to go.

[MissMillie]

27. I don't always concern myself w/ authenticity of ethnic food

I generally just like to eat what tastes good to me. :shrug:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

29. There's always that! I will always love Chicken Tikka Masala but I like to

also experience what other people eat. Mexican food in New England is a prime example. It is so far from what people make in Mexico. I still enjoy it from time to time.

[crispini]

31. But it's all in what you want, isn't it?

American Chinese, although good, to me is a completely different set of dishes (and tastes) than Chinese-Chinese. (which of course is then broken down into the variants like Cantonese, Shanghainese, Sichuanese etc.) Tex-Mex is not the same as California-Mex is not the same as Mex-Mex. I agree that it can all be yummy, but an all you can eat Chinese buffet intended for Americans is just not going to have the same dishes as, say, a dim sum Chinese buffet.

For me, it's a truth in labeling issue. If I get my palate all fired up for a firey Sichuanese dish and I wind up inadvertenly at an American Chinese place where the entire menu has the collective spicyness of a saltshaker ... well, I'm gonna be disappointed...

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

37. That's what I'm on about If a restaurant is claiming authentic Indian food

but is serving UK style curries I think it's misleading.

[Blue_In_AK]

45. We love Indian food...

Unfortunately, there's only one Indian restaurant in Anchorage, which is okay, but not fabulous. BUT I have about 10 or 12 Indian cookbooks so we eat our fill. What I've learned is that there isn't really one Indian cuisine, but many. Some Indian cuisines make heavy use of onions and garlic and meat, while others strictly forbid onions because the flavor is too "strong" and reminiscent of meat. The spice mixes and even the ways of preparing them are different from one part of the country to another. I've mixed up seven different masala combinations, as well as a couple of curry powders, which are so much better than what can be bought in the store. We're such fanatics that my husband even brought me two baby curry leaf trees back from Houston last month so we can have a fresh supply at all times since even the dried leaves aren't available up here. I'm guarding them with my life. Every time we go Outside, we hit the Indian and Pakistani grocers so we can stock up on our spices and dals.

Indian is really my favorite and such fun to prepare. A great do-it-yourself project for the cooks out there.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

56. Wow - that's really cool!

You go! :thumbsup:

[Kraklen]

46. Alright, I'm confused.

OK, so chicken tikka tandoori (my favorite) is a wholly Indian food, right? And masalas (fish, paneer) etc. are also authentic Indian, right? So chicken tikka masala is the combination of two authentic Indian foods invented by Indian or Bangladeshi chefs in Britain. They're still essentially Indian, right?

I mean, if an Italian chef living in Vancouver, British Colombia invents a dishn involving veal parmegiana stirred into fettucini alfredo and it turns out to be insanely popular (hypothetically, obviously) it's still an Italian dish and not a Canadian dish, right?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

48. No - you're right, absolutely! This is where it gets interesting for me as

an American. Where does the melting pot happen. What's authentic and what is just damned tasty?

[liberalpragmatist]

49. Hm. Maybe

First off, I've not heard of "chicken tikka tandoori" - of course, it could well be a food that I've just not heard of, or it could be a food item that has been named differently.

But "tandoori"-chicken is real. That's a real dish. And masalas - masala's actually just a spice. Paneer masala, etc. are just curries with lots of masala. Now, chicken tikka masala is technically a British invention, but the truth is it's extremely popular in India as well these days. I mean, you could say now that it's "inauthentic," but seriously that's hard to say these days.

Honestly, as a second-generation Indian, I wouldn't worry THAT much about what you're eating. It's relatively authentic (albeit for Punjabi food). And it's good. And most dishes served in American restaurants are these days really popular in India too.

[fujiyama]

57. I have a theory on why

Chinese and Mexican restaurants are so much more different from actual Chinese or Mexican food compared to why Indian food is still relatively "authentic".

I think it has to do with how long Indians have lived in the US as immigrants. Indians arrived in the US relatively recently (mostly within the last thirty years or so), while the Chinese and Mexicans have been here quite a bit longer (mid to late 1800s or earlier in some cases).

Over time, tastes change and as Chavez stated, it turns into the melting pot.

Great posts btw. I too am a second generation Indian (well more American than Indian as you said). India has an extremely wide variety of foods and what's so amusing is my attitude when it comes to eating out. When my family usually gets Indian food from a restaurant, we usually get north Indian food, since we are from south India. To me, iddlis and dosas are very boring, because I've had so much of it...But to my north Indian friends, it's sort of exotic.

[liberalpragmatist]

62. i feel exactly the same way!

My family is south Indian as well and I find chapatis, idlis, sambars, daal + rice VERY boring. Oh, it's sort of comfort food, but I find the stuff we get at restaurants as different from my plate as anything!

[fujiyama]

58. The food you find in Indian restaurants here

is more or less what you'll find in restaurants in India. Since Indians are a relatively recent immigrant group, the food still hasn't changed much. It's possible that over time, it will become more Americanized (though with the demographics in this country changing, that term can be debatable).

Granted, when I've traveled in India, my experience was limited to only the southern part and we ate at 3-4 star Indian restaurants (mostly serving north Indian food).

A few things to note though - North and South Indian foods are both quite different. North Indian foods are generally what you'll find in restaurants here - naan, mutter paneer, etc. They have many more meat dishes (and often include onions and or garlic for spices which are sometimes not eaten by south Indians). This is probably one of the reasons they've caught on more in the west. There aren't as many South Indian restaurants, though they are popping up (and in some restaurants you'll find both). Also, even in the south there are differences. For example, in the state of Andra Pradesh, the cooking is much spicier than than the neighboring state of Karnataka.

Either way, enjoy yourself. Food isn't (or shouldn't be) about cultural purity. Often fusion dishes are also very good.

[chenGOD]

59. I have no idea about American Kimchi, but....

in Canada you have to ask the staff to cook it like they do back home.
Kimchi they usually serve fresh in Korean restaurants in Canada (for the foreigners). Even some people over here like the fresh suff, but I prefer the sour variety.

Kimchi, yum.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

61. How do you eat it. I love the stuff but have never been to a Korean restau

rant. What's the proper way to enjoy it?

By the way - how are you, Bro? Doin' well?

[chenGOD]

63. You eat it....

however you want to. It's used as a side dish, a snack with beer, put it in a stew, fry it up with some rice and sesame seed oil, ummm I dunno. There are also many varieties of kimchi, ut the most popular one of course is the cabbage.

I'm doin alright thanks. :)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

64. Cool - that's how I eat it. I just munch on it, cook with it...whatever

I've only had the cabbage kind.