Eating India will stand as an authority on Indian food for years to come.
The British claim to know a lot about Indian cuisine - indeed, they recently proudly hailed chicken tikka masala as Britain's new national dish. But not everyone knows that the dish was actually invented in Britain, and that Indian cuisine is much more diverse than we might imagine - just as diverse, in fact, as the Indian people themselves.
In Eating India, award-winning food writer and Bengali food expert Chitrita Banerji takes us on a thrilling journey through a national food formed by generations of arrivals, assimilations and conquests. In her mouth-watering prose, she explores how each wave of newcomers - ancient Aryan tribes, Persians, Middle Eastern Jews, Mongols, Arabs, Europeans - brought innovating new ways to combine the country's rich native spices, poppy seeds, saffron and mustard to the vegetables, fish, grains and pulses that are the staples of the Indian kitchen. More than simply offering us a history or cultural profile though, Chitrita also investigates an India in current flux, and asks how a food culture's 'authenticity' can survive in an ever-changing, young-old, immigrant nation.
Eating India explores a beloved cuisine, introducing us along the way to a fascinating culture that is in constant development and dialogue with itself. Beautifully presented and with elegant illustrations throughout, it will change the way we think about - and experience - Indian food, and will stand as an authority for years to come.
