The Curry Club
since 1982

Price: £23.00
inc UK p & p

India (Lonely Planet World Food)
320 pages, 163 x 114 x 25 mm,paperback
Publisher: Lonely Planet (Aug 2001)
ISBN-10: 1864503289
ISBN-13: 978-1864503289

World Food is one of a series which explores a named country's eating & drinking culture in this case India.   It defines the nation’s vast and varied regional specialities, and irresistible street foods.  It names eating places and markets. It carries a culinary dictionary, quick-reference glossary and useful phrases, photography, recipes and maps. In this respect it is an excellent starter book, but and whilst it does not provide detailed answers to any topic, it does cover just about everything culinary and much more, and in  this respect it is unique and extremely useful.

However we do need to challenge the marketing department's flowery spiel: “this book is a culinary compass to the myriad taste sensations of India” 
A brief examination will show you that you need to be a good navigator to get the best out of the book. 
True all the information is there, but you need frequently to cross refer to the index to find what you are looking for, and then journey here and there around the book when you do locate your search, it lacks detail, and in some entries, contains errors or even fails to make sense.

For example: We learn on p157 that the Tandoor was "originally introduced by Turkish invaders to the Punjab”. The date is not specified.  These are the facts:  first reference to Turks in India was in 135 BC when Central Asian nomadic tribes called Kushans, or Tarushkas (Turks) took India and were subsequently to establish the Kushan empire. Nothing on record says they carried the Tandoor to India. In fact the Tandoor had developed from the Iranian Taftoon in the millennia BC and shards have been found all over the ancient trade routes. It came into what is now Pakistan (via the Kyber Pass) hundreds of years ago but its introduction into India did not take place until post 1947.
Chicken Tikka Masala gets a brief mentions. The dish it evolved from,  Murgh Makhani appears on on p59 and elsewhere but it fails to get into the glossary or the index  nor does its translation, Butter Chicken despite its mention and workmanlike recipe on p159
Roghan Josh is defined on p57 as “lamb or goat in a rich, spicy sauce, the curry dish that has been bastardised all over the world.”  This latter is unexplained (but presumably refers to the curry house interpretation of Indian dishes which pervades all Indian dishes not just Roghan, and as for the first statement, all curry dishes are in a spicy sauce, so we learn nothing as to its ingregients such as on p153 where we are told that “chilli or powdered cockscomb is added to give curries a fiery red tinge as in the famous roghan josh (lamb curry)”. Roghan does not contain chilli and the author doesn’t  explain cockscomb (a virtually unobtainable herb).
Vindaloo, is correctly described on page 57 as “pork curry in a marinade of vinegar and garlic, a dish that the Portuguese left to soften the blow of colonisation.”  Whatever does that means? Vindaloo originated in Portugal as pork marinated in (wine) vinegar and garlic but when it (and wine and the pig) were brought to Goa the Indian incumbents added copious amounts of chilli and toddy vinegar to give the dish its own Goan identity. Sadly in Vindaloo’s only other mention on page 188 it doesn’t escape toilet humour with the statement:  ‘pork vindaloo ... is so fiery that it has been nicknamed ‘find-a-loo’ by tourists taken by surprise”. (ha,ha!)

Apart from the inaccuracies, there is an element of breathlessness in the writing, it has the feel of student about it, and this may be because Lonely Planet publications are the gap-year students’ (and adult backpackers’) bibles.  It is a publication on India so the Indian use of English is appropriate. Take the  piece on chillies on p36. Phrases like “rickshaw drivers have gumption”, chillies are “smarting little suckers”  Or "you have as much chance of a candlelit dinner with a yeti than you do of finding the tezpur " (world’s hottest) chilli, and "avoid the temptation to guzzle water" (if you have eaten too much chilli).  What a great read!

If you think we are too critical let us emphasise, the whole book is a fascinating good-value, largely correct reference work.  The 20 recipes could be omitted and who knows if they work (in any case this is not a recipe book), but the comprehensive multi-language dictionary of culinary terms and glossaries on each regional section are first class.  So too is the dining out advice (from street food to haute cuisine restaurants).  The pictures make you feel you are already in India and the maps have useful information too. 

But if you want in-depth definitions and recipes, delve deeper into other publications. 
And on that subject page 312 covers 'Recommended Reading'.  It mentions Madhur Jaffrey, Camellia Punjabi and other authors, but we are most grateful to the publishers for the kind comments about yours truly. I quote:  “Pat Chapman  ... has authored a terrific collection of inexpensive books covering various themes of Indian cuisine complete with fascinating background information.”

What more can I say other than buy it, read it in good time before you travel, locate the information you need, highlight it with post-it notes and enjoy it.
It weighs a huge 8.8 ounces (250 grams). 

But take it you must.

 

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