The Surprising History of Indian Food | Masala Lab Author Krish Ashok Reveals
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Join Varun Duggirala and Krish Ashok, author of ‘Masala Lab’ and TCS Global Head, as they explore the origins of Indian cuisine …
So India has nothing original of its own and we imported everything Indianised theme. Give me break…
Was that Dr. Pal??
You know how when you look at a static cube drawn on a paper the orientation keeps changing due to optical illusion, face of Krish keeps changing between Shah Rukh khan and his actual face when the camera angle changes, did anyone else experience this?
It is historically inaccurate to say that there were no eateries in India before the British.
Anna dhana is a big thing in Sanathan Dharma. It was not considered appropriate to sell food. There were chatra or choultries that gave food to everyone who came for free. Then the temples gave food twice a day to all people without restrictions. There were no reason for people to start or patronize "restaurants".
It is acquired European wisdom and ignorance that makes Krish Ashok attribute it to casteism.
I wonder how much of his book comes from acquired knowledge and how much from experience
The uniqueness of biriyani is well-explained. Thank you. However, I came across this dish from Azerbaijan called shah pilaf. This is called pilaf but technique is similar to biriyani, more like a purdah biriyani.
Ask specialists about food contents; atta veg spices pulses – decades before, things were naturally organic…made food tasty any way and, simple cooking is good.
I want to point out one flaw, India had fewer restaurants primarily due to one reason and that was not caste, it was due to the intention of the cook. India being a land of Yogis has always emphasized food being cooked with good intentions and how that impacts you. In the last 20-30 years this has been completely wiped out but back in the day there was a lot more emphasis put on the fact that whoever cooks the food needs to be kept happy all the time, it had nothing to do with caste. I am sorry but a bit more study about India of the past is needed before we start making such comments.
Loving this as a second generation Indian woman chef in the UK. I would refuse to cook chicken tikka masala, every time I was asked to cook a curry I would say fine, but it's not like the typical British Indian curry, it will be what I cook at home. As a second generation, I do like to explore combining other ingredients from around the world and other cuisines with Indian food. Some people knock fusion food, but to that I would say, much like Krish Ashok says, Pav Bhaji is the ultimate fusion food and does it matter so long as the food tastes really good. Food is always evolving but equally it's good to keep classic and traditional recipes alive. Great interview : )
So for the honey and jaggery thing in particular, I think people are typically saying "natural is sucrose + something; while chemical is just sucrose; and its that `+ something` that is important". So, for honey perhaps it is sucrose + medicinal, and when using as sweetener, we get added benefit of medicinal and when used as medicinal we find that our medicine is sweet (think haldi-shahad). To your point about "what ingredients" I guess I'm at a conjecture so to speak, since I am not sure if there is that `+ something`. Intuition tells me there is though. Btw the `+ something` can simply also be the process of extraction like in simple carbs vs complex carbs.
It was better if you could enjoy some Indian food when you talk like biriyani or masala dosa or something like that.
I really enjoyed this video. Thanks youtube for recommending this ❤
It's bewildering the India was the largest economy in the world for almost 1500 years with excellent knowledge base, world class universities, science, research, extremely fertile soil across the land, full of fresh water sources and favorable weather with ample sunshine.
Yet, somehow, India had barely any vegetables, not much of a cooking style, not many spices either & brought in cooking styles from places with no cooking fuel or vegetables from Europe or South America.
Hard to believe.
Maa Sita what now…. ?
idiots talking like they know everything… waste of time….
He is making people fool. He always run away from my science based questions about his narrative. Once being, I asked him if white salt impacts the same as black salt, why is the chemical formula different? And if wants to say chemical structures don't make any difference? He is a fake baba..
Awesome discussion. Agree 100% because I've been saying something similar for a long time about our foods, culture and traditions. Being a 10th generation Kannadiga of ethnic Tamilian descent, my family gels with this thought this way for a long time.
That north east dish that has strong smell of fermentation must be Axone/Akhuni
I am South Indian, most of the dishes I had and loved were vegan. Then I remembered – every time I had rice, I had to mix it with yoghurt. So I was rarely vegan.
How is South Indian Food Vegan when either one of curd, Ghee or butter milk is a staple with every meal.. There are more non veg eaters in South india than north india
I don't know about the sugar and satiety part…. Anytime I eat something very high in sugar, few bites and I am done….. Milkshakes — I can probably drink half with difficulty (I don't enjoy them at all)
Shocking knowing about microwave n freeze food. Pls do more pod on the same😇. Need to learn more.
Get Abhijit Iyer Mitra with him…
One funny olfactory experience with food..I grew up in an onion garlic household and my in laws were quite strictly no onion no garlic…so the smell of hibf tadka was difficult to accept..but with time now..its difficult for me to cook let alone eat garlicky stuff! Though my kids love it!
In 50.20 you are talking about shutki fish
All this knowledge and he still thinks there were no restaurants in india before british because of the caste system. Then why didnt muslims or christians have restaurants before the british? They had castesystem too?? Its to do with the whole culture of india of not eating out be whatever caste it is.
One of the best talks/discussions on Indian food. By the way, both of you should hit a bengali restaurant to have fried EGGPLANT (cut in cross-section), yellow dahl, with steamed rice and a ghondho-raj lemon. You can add yogurt or curd if you like. This might become your favorite food after biriyani.
I am sort of embarrassed to make this joke, but I was expecting Krish Ashok to tell us how hard it was to wicket keep for Murali.