Every PlateTales food history story tagged South Asian, newest first.
4 stories · All stories
A Glasgow restaurateur said he invented chicken tikka masala for a customer who found his tikka dry. The tin of tomato soup in the story was a joke told to journalists.
Black pepper began on India's Malabar Coast and crossed the sea to Egypt, Rome and Venice. Here is what the records say about its trade, its prices and the voyages it inspired.
Egypt was importing cinnamon by about 2000 BC, Rome paid fortunes for it, and the Portuguese, Dutch and British took turns controlling the island that grew it.
A Tamil word, an eighteenth-century spice blend and the ships of the British Empire carried curry from India to Glasgow, Tokyo, Durban and Trinidad, changing at every stop.
One food history story, delivered every week.