The Curry Club
since 1982

A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food
(Oxford India Collection) 
by Professor K.T. Achaya 

Publisher: Oxford University Press, India (Jan 2003)

364 pages, 212 x 138 x 22 mm,  paperback:
ISBN-10: 019565868X
ISBN-13: 978-0195658682

This is a dictionary in A-Z format listing alphabetically the food materials, the food ethos, cuisines and recipes of India, as well as Indian foods in relation to health perceptions. It draws upon literature, archaeology, historical writing, botany, genetics, a huge amount of information on the food, the food culture, recipes and cuisine of India.

It was in India that the Aryan cultural ethos flowered, bringing to every area of human activity, including food and dietetics, a spiritual and moral dimension. It was on Indian soil that immigrants from many different cultures and traditions came together - Persians, Muslims, and Europeans - creating a food culture which, enlivened by distinctive regional nuances, is among the greatest in the world.  The country's oldest accounts in Sanskrit, Pali, Tamil, and Kannada, have been drawn upon extensively, as have the writings of visitors to India.
Details covered include migration of food plants from the New World to India through European influences and their rapid integration into Indian cuisine. The text is extensively cross-referenced allowing readers to browse entries. In addition to the A-Z text the book contains extra material such as an index of authors, literary works, and historical people, indexes of Indian words and Latin names, and a list of headwords with page numbers.

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