The Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Cuisine - by Colleen Taylor Sen & Sourish Bhattacharyya & Helen Saberi

Book Synopsis

This reference work covers the cuisine and foodways of India in all their diversity and complexity, including regions, personalities, street foods, communities and topics that have been often neglected.

The book starts with an overview essay situating the Great Indian Table in relation to its geography, history and agriculture, followed by alphabetically organized entries. The entries, which are between 150 and 1,500 words long, combine facts with history, anecdotes, and legends. They are supplemented by longer entries on key topics such as regional cuisines, spice mixtures, food and medicine, rites of passages, cooking methods, rice, sweets, tea, drinks (alcoholic and soft) and the Indian diaspora. This comprehensive volume illuminates contemporary Indian cooking and cuisine in tradition and practice.

Review Quotes

"You could easily spend weeks bouncing among 236 entries, from Sanskrit scholar and food chemist K.T. Achaya to the kokum fruit, and the black, sticky condiment it produces; from the slow-stewed Muslim beef dish nihari to the galaxy of yams and their infinite purposes." --Chicago Reader

"Compiled by three masters of Indian food, this handbook confidently ranges from appam to vindaloo, and K.T. Achaya to Wyvern. It contains the wide-ranging cuisines of over a billion people, with a long history, who speak over 20,000 dialects. This handbook richly illustrates the multiplicity of Indian cuisines in theory and in practice." --Krishnendu Ray, Associate Professor, Food Studies, New York University, USA

"A definitive and indispensable guide to Indian cuisine! The entries cover indigenous and "imported" ingredients, diverse cooking styles across states and communities and important personalities who have established Indian food globally. The book celebrates Indian traditions and festivals while looking at trends and changes at the Indian table. The authors have a deep understanding of Indian cuisine, and have also incorporated the writings of eminent food writers, making this book a comprehensive encyclopaedia of Indian cuisine." --Priya Paul, Chairperson, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, India

About the Author

Colleen Taylor Sen is the author/co-editor of eight books, including Food Culture in India (2004); Curry: A Global History (2009); Street Food Around the World (2013); and Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India (2014).

Sourish Bhattacharyya is a food journalist and Managing Editor of the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS). He co-founded the Tasting India Symposium and has written for the India Today Group, BBC Good Food India and Time Out India.

Helen Saberi is the author/co-author of a number of books including Afghan Food and Cookery (2000) and The Road to Vindaloo: Curry Cooks and Curry Books (2008).