news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

in many cases, the stereotype that indian food is clean and hygienic comes from the paste.

suspicious color, suspicious texture, suspicious smell, and suspicious way of eating.

it is hard not to have bad associations for chinese people who pursue fresh and authentic ingredients.

in fact, the south asian subcontinent where india is located is one of the most fertile and resource-rich regions in the world.

the northwestern state of punjab produces fruits and mutton comparable to those in xinjiang; the eastern state of assam produces vegetables and mushrooms comparable to those in yunnan; the southern states of kerala and tamil nadu produce seafood and fruits comparable to those in hainan...

these rare ingredients in the eyes of the chinese require delicate cooking methods such as steaming, stir-frying, pan-frying, slow-cooking, etc. to highlight the original quality of the ingredients, so as to be worthy of the gift of nature;

but in indian kitchens, they will meet the fate of being shattered to pieces: ruthless indian chefs will launch an indiscriminate attack on the ingredients: chopping, adding starch, plant pigments and spices, stewing and blending, the product is a pot of vaguely recognizable, strong-smelling paste.

so, why do indians waste food like this?

01

spice empire

indian paste is more widely known as "curry", but in fact, curry is not a word in hindi, the official language of india. in tamil, a dialect of southern india, curry is used to describe a spice plant, sweet neem, and a sauce made from its leaves.

in the 17th century, when the british first came to india to colonize, they did not understand the indian curry universe. after coming into contact with the tamils, they mistakenly thought that all indian curries were called curry. thus, this word with a jungle-like wild appearance spread throughout the world through navigation, trade and colonization.

the true origin of indian paste dates back much earlier than the landing of the british.

as early as the vedic era in 3000 bc, indians summed up a set of witchcraft medicine system called "ayurveda". generally speaking, it is to treat diseases with yoga, massage, and various dried and ground plants mixed with powder.

this kind of powder is called "masala" by indians. in essence, it is no different from traditional chinese medicine.

but the plants in the indian continent are completely different from those in the east asian continent. in east asia, where there are few spice plants, people tend to use plants with bitter and astringent tastes as medicine. the saying "good medicine tastes bitter but is good for the disease" originated from witchcraft to eliminate evil spirits and diseases.

the indian continent is rich in spices. it is the home of pepper, cinnamon, and cassia. cardamom, cloves, star anise and other spices native to southeast asia were also introduced to india a long time ago. in the middle ages, spices that were regarded as treasures in the western world might be regarded as over-produced and worthless onions, leeks and garlic in the eyes of indians.

there is nothing wrong with using valuable crops for eating and using worthless crops for witchcraft.

similar to traditional chinese medicine, ayurveda in india also developed similar concepts of medicine and food homology, food supplement and food therapy in its later development. masala, a compound spice made of dried and ground spices such as fennel, laurel, pepper, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom pods and coriander seeds, and mixed in different proportions, began to be used in cooking.

in her book feast and fasts: a history of food in india, colleen taylor describes that in the gupta dynasty in india in the fifth century ad, people added spice powder made of star anise and turmeric when cooking vegetables and meat to obtain "olfactory and spiritual pleasure, and enable people to reach a certain divine world while eating."

witchcraft without a doubt.

in fact, in the humid and hot climate of south asia, bacteria multiply very quickly and various diseases are rampant. in the eyes of the chinese, it is a land of malaria and plague, and spices play an important role in treating local diseases, preserving food, and covering up the smell of corruption.

through the alkaloids in certain spicy plants, people can obtain a sense of pleasure and excitement similar to that of drinking coffee or tea, speed up the body's metabolism, and be more likely to have hallucinations during witchcraft.

even if the food is really spoiled, spices can still cover up the smell of food corruption.

in addition, indians also stubbornly believe that spices have aphrodisiac effects. this ancient concept continues to this day - the so-called indian magic oil is also a variety of compound spices extracted by soaking in oil.

but the paradox is that spices don’t taste good.

bay laurel is bitter, cardamom is astringent, pepper is spicy and numbing, fennel has a choking taste that is hard to swallow, and cinnamon has a heavy wood residue taste...

on this earth, fragrance is often emitted by plants as chemicals secreted for the purpose of reproduction and pollination, or to ward off enemies and insects, but their original intention was never to be eaten.

if spices are used in small amounts, they can indeed help to cover up the mutton and fishy smells of meat and seafood. however, if one wants to use spices to achieve refreshing, preservative and healing effects like the ancient indians did, then using just a little bit of them as a condiment will not solve the problem - the spices themselves must also become an ingredient.

the optimal solution under this dietary logic is to chop other foods into pieces, boil them into a paste, and mix them with spices to make a paste: when the two are deeply and fully integrated, the spices give the food smell, and the food covers up the bad taste of the spices.

this is the same way that ancient chinese processed tea before the publication of "the classic of tea" in the tang dynasty: adding pepper, ginger, and dairy products and "cooking" them together with tea; or adding rice, flour, and vegetables and making a "soup" with tea.

essentially, this is because people cannot appreciate the original flavor of tea, but need the excitement brought by theophylline and caffeine, and use other foods to cover up the bitterness of tea. today, salty milk tea and butter tea in the northwest region, and lei cha in the southwest region are all relics of this ancient habit. they actually have a very similar dietary development context to india's huhu.

02

asia-europe group rental

completely different from the later development history of chinese tea, lu yu was not born in india, and no one wrote "the classic of tea".

on the contrary, india, which is known as the "european and asian group rental house", has experienced countless conquests and interruptions of civilization in its subsequent historical development.

around 1500 bc, the aryans came to india, bringing with them the indo-european language and the caste system;

in 600 bc, emperor darius led the persian cavalry into india, bringing with him the religion, painting and music of central and west asia.

in 300 bc, alexander the great, the macedonian king, a greek conqueror, entered india, bringing with him european sculpture art and ancient roman gods;

in 200 bc, the yuezhi from the western regions of china entered india, combining the ancient worship of the western regions with indian brahmanism, giving birth to mahayana buddhism.

around the 4th century ad, the huns, who had lost the battle for supremacy in china, entered india, bringing with them the nomadic habit of eating beef and mutton and an unrestrained lifestyle;

in the 8th century ad, arabs entered india, bringing with them islam and a host of harsh lifestyles;

in the 16th century, the mongols, who had lost the battle in central asia, entered india, bringing with them the architectural art and hedonistic genes that india is proud of today.

……

to put it simply, the history of india is actually a history of conquest and assimilation - just like the paste in the pot, after being mixed and stewed, there is no distinction between you and me in the end.

today, india has 122 "major languages" and 1,599 other languages, making it a language museum.

for the colonized nations, on the one hand, they have to cater to the desires of the conquerors, and on the other hand, they have to preserve their own cultural characteristics as much as possible;

for the colonists, appeasement, conciliation, and showing a certain degree of respect are the most important means of maintaining stability.

during this process, shiva, the god believed in by the indigenous people of india, was gradually assimilated into brahmanism and hinduism brought by the colonists, and became the main god on par with the foreign gods brahma and vishnu; and huhu, which came from the primitive eating habits, gradually became the main deity on the table in this tug-of-war between colonization and being colonized.

in ancient china, where the tug-of-war between farming and nomadic civilizations was relatively stable and foreign invasions were rare, the ancient "huhu" and various "soups" in the book of rites had retreated to the margins of chinese cuisine. but in india, the original huhu gradually gained influence through the repeated compromises and tolerances of the colonizers and the continued efforts of the colonized.

it’s easy to imagine that the persians added saffron and chickpeas to their paste, the greeks added olive oil and wine to their paste, the huns added dairy products and lamb to their paste, and the arabs added onions and chicken to their paste…

for the conquerors, dietary compromise and assimilation were a great gift to the untouchables;

but for the untouchables, the masters’ kindness at the dining table was an honor of being bathed in divine grace.

huhu is the easiest way to carry exotic culture and the most convenient way to mix together various production areas.

in this process, india is gradually going crazy.

more importantly, the fertile land of south asia has been the world's granary since ancient times. the punjab region in the upper reaches of the indus river (now divided between india and pakistan) alone accounts for 1% of the world's rice production and 2% of wheat production today.

compared with the farmers in ancient china who suffered from famine from time to time and had no food and had to eat soil, in india, there was no such thing as people starving to death.

the huge surplus of grains also fueled the crazy journey of indian paste - people who were not afraid of wasting food found that flour and rice flour had good properties as thickeners for paste. they could make the texture of the paste richer and more viscous, better blend the spices and ingredients, and could keep warm and relieve greasiness, alleviating the greasy feeling caused by various oils and meats in the paste.

the originally crude porridge has become increasingly able to tame a variety of ingredients in the process of continuous integration, and has given us a glimpse of the door to real gourmet food from another path that is different from chinese food and that most chinese people do not quite understand.

today, india’s national dish is about to emerge.

03

muddy universe

in 1498, a portuguese named vasco da gama landed in a port called calicut in eastern india.

the word "calicut" refers to spices in the dialect of eastern india - the purpose of europeans coming here is self-evident.

in fact, the spice road between south asia and the west and the silk road between east asia and the west were cut off after the ottoman empire occupied constantinople in 1453. europeans had to pay high taxes to the greedy sultans of ottoman turkey in order to eat spices from india and southeast asia and use porcelain from china and japan.

the age of exploration began with the goal of discovering india and china from the sea and proving that the world is a spherical shape.

during the more than 400 years of european colonization of india, they largely followed the practices of their aryan, greek, hunnic, persian and arab predecessors, and to a large extent, tried to have fun with the people and learn how to eat indian porridge.

vindaloo curry in portuguese cuisine is based on indian paste, with wine vinegar and garlic added, and pork and chicken are cooked with it.

in the uk, british birmingham curry has a transcendent status. whether it is a common people's dinner or the main dish at a state banquet, it is inseparable from this improved curry based on vegetable oil.

the sweeter japanese curry originated from the era of total westernization during the meiji restoration in japan, when the japanese navy learned from the british navy.

indian paste is eaten all over the world.

this is an example of the conquered assimilating the conqueror with a more ancient culture. it has the same twists and turns as the stories of the germanic barbarians learning to drink red wine and eat baked snails from the romans, and the qing nobles including tofu and suzao meat in the palace banquets.

what is even more special is that at the same time as india was colonized by foreign powers, the new world was discovered and a great exchange of species occurred around the world: tomatoes and peppers from faraway america came to india on european merchant ships.

tomatoes have a bright sweet and sour taste, and after long cooking they develop a thick, gelatinous texture, making them a perfect match for the vegetarian curry favored by devout hindus.

chili peppers bring a stronger stimulation than pepper and a more eye-catching color than turmeric and saffron. they are often used in meat pastes and are always successful.

in addition, starchy potatoes, sour papayas, oily cashews with a special aroma, and other plants were brought to india during this process. in the 18th and 19th centuries, the british even introduced small-leaf tea from fujian, china. after only a few decades of planting on this fertile land, india surpassed china and became the world's largest tea exporter.

masala tea, which is made with milk and complex spices, has since become india's number one national drink.

these spices and ingredients from the other side of the earth add a more beautiful and crazier end to the indian paste universe.

india, which makes everything into a paste, is by no means developed overnight; and the indian paste that embraces everything is by no means as simple as it appears on the surface.

04

END

in july 1997, hong kong returned to china and all british troops stationed in shek kong barracks withdrew.

sanjay, an indian chef who has served in the british army's logistics kitchen for many years, is faced with a choice. he has become accustomed to life in hong kong and is unwilling to return to britain or india.

so he rented a shop in the famous "chungking express" and opened a store named khyber pass mess club, which means "khyber pass restaurant".

the khyber pass is a small gap in the hindu kush mountains in the northern indian pakistan region. almost all conquerors in indian history, including persia, greece, huns, and arabia, entered the south asian continent through it - it is the starting point of the long story of india.

but hong kong people cannot remember overly long indian store names. since the store is located on the 7th floor of block e in chongqing mansion, they gave it a popular name "7e curry king" - although the owner does not think that what he sells is "curry" in the strict sense.

years later, 7e curry king has become the benchmark for hong kong-style curry, and indian huhu has long been popular in hong kong. even in mainland china, where most people once could not appreciate huhu, more and more indian restaurants have appeared.

fake foodies choose with their keyboards, real foodies choose with their taste buds:

this is most evident in indian paste.