Indian Cuisine Preference

[Senator Sbane]

South is terrible. Everything that's good is either North or British.

Narrow taste there.

Ouch! Although I daresay I have consumed more South Indian food than anyone on this forum, sans Sbane. And maybe Lewis?

Aren't you south Indian? If you are, you have definitely eaten more than me.

[Senator Sbane]

...I don't know how prevalent South Indian specific restaurants are outside California, none in Nashville at least.

There was at least one in St. Louis, used to go there all the time.  But for sure, North-Indian is a lot more common around the country.

Opebo, it's amusing that the Thais don't like Indian food. There are a lot of similarities, at least the stuff that is popular in America. Definitely with South Indian food there are similarities with the liberal use of coconut in their food. I guess they are still sensitive about the Cholas colonizing them, eh?

No, its just that they think Indians have atrocious B.O., and that it may at least partially come from their food, which Thais also say 'mehn mack!!' (stinks badly).  The Thai food you get in the US is almost always the more 'Indianized' style dishes - in practice their cuisine is quite different from Indian - hotter but less 'heavily' spiced if you see what I mean - more of a 'fresh' taste, intense but not 'lasting', unlike Indian which you may be burping up or farting out for a few hours, and for sure exuding from your pores for a couple days.

For example, when I used to constantly eat Indian food in the US, and go visit the family, I usually arrived home after my father had gone to bed.  The next day he said he always knew whether I was home because he could smell Indian food (he hated Indian food of course, like most bedrock middle-americans).

Indian food that you eat at restaurants isn't really what people eat.  They are usually much more loaded with fats, spices (though not necessarily hotter)and meats than what people eat. It's usually roti, dal and some vegetables. In Bengal usually some fish. Same with south Indian food. They usually don't eat dosas and uthapams at home. And lol at the Thais complaining about BO. The smelliest flight I have been on was one from Taipei to Bangkok full of a bunch of working class Thais. Yeah they have an inferiority complex.

[Sibboleth]

Indian food that you eat at restaurants isn't really what people eat.

Tends to be the case with restaurants, of course.

[Senator Sbane]

Indian food that you eat at restaurants isn't really what people eat.

Tends to be the case with restaurants, of course.

Indeed.

[opebo]

Indian food that you eat at restaurants isn't really what people eat.  They are usually much more loaded with fats, spices (though not necessarily hotter)and meats than what people eat. It's usually roti, dal and some vegetables. In Bengal usually some fish. Same with south Indian food. They usually don't eat dosas and uthapams at home. And lol at the Thais complaining about BO. The smelliest flight I have been on was one from Taipei to Bangkok full of a bunch of working class Thais. Yeah they have an inferiority complex.

Yeah, I know day-to-day fare is quite simple in India and that restaurant versions in the West (or Thailand) are not precisely analogous.  Alas for me I have never tried a uthapam, though I often eat dosas.

However, if you know actual Thais (middle class central Thais), I've never met anyone with less of an inferiority complex.   Also generally Thais are astoundingly clean and fresh smelling. 

[Grad Students are the Worst]

The only South Indian I've had came from a corner market, and tends to be dosas and snackier fare like that.  What are the entrees like?

[Χahar]

North; I like meat and I don't like it when my food is so spicy that I can't taste it.

South is terrible. Everything that's good is either North or British.

Dude, I love home cooked South Indian food. Miss it so much...

Aren't you Bengali?

[Simfan34]

North; I like meat and I don't like it when my food is so spicy that I can't taste it.

South is terrible. Everything that's good is either North or British.

Dude, I love home cooked South Indian food. Miss it so much...

Aren't you Bengali?

It's good food.

[Χahar]

Yeah, but being Bengali it seems odd that he would eat home cooked South Indian food often.

[Senator Sbane]

North; I like meat and I don't like it when my food is so spicy that I can't taste it.

South is terrible. Everything that's good is either North or British.

Dude, I love home cooked South Indian food. Miss it so much...

Aren't you Bengali?

Our neighbors back in India were South Indian, from AP.

[Senator Sbane]

The only South Indian I've had came from a corner market, and tends to be dosas and snackier fare like that.  What are the entrees like?

Rice, Dal and various vegetables. Similar to most of India of course, with less reliance on roti (naan). I like the way they prepare their Dal.

[Grumps]

The only South Indian I've had came from a corner market, and tends to be dosas and snackier fare like that.  What are the entrees like?

Rice, Dal and various vegetables. Similar to most of India of course, with less reliance on roti (naan). I like the way they prepare their Dal.

Is Dal Saag popular in Southern India......it's so damn good.

[Senator Sbane]

The only South Indian I've had came from a corner market, and tends to be dosas and snackier fare like that.  What are the entrees like?

Rice, Dal and various vegetables. Similar to most of India of course, with less reliance on roti (naan). I like the way they prepare their Dal.

Is Dal Saag popular in Southern India......it's so damn good.

I think that's a northern dish, but wouldn't be surprised if the south had some version of it. What's really popular in the south is Sambar with rice, and Rasam in Tamil Nadu, both being different preparations of lentils (Dal).

[opebo]

What's really popular in the south is Sambar with rice, and Rasam in Tamil Nadu, both being different preparations of lentils (Dal).

I love Sambar but I always eat it with idli and/or vada, and the little sides of chutneys, never with rice.

[Vasall des Midas]

To the very poor in the south, dinner is either food, or on a good day food with Sambar.

Food being rice. Yeah, I've heard it actually used as synonymous in English, and it's common enough in Dravidian languages apparently.

[opebo]

To the very poor in the south, dinner is either food, or on a good day food with Sambar.

Food being rice. Yeah, I've heard it actually used as synonymous in English, and it's common enough in Dravidian languages apparently.

Yes here 'to eat' is 'kin caow' kin meaning 'take' and 'caow' meaning 'rice'.  To take rice.

I was reading up on African cuisine the other day, and I think most would agree it is not a celebrated cuisine.  I've only ever been to Madagascar, where they eat a lot of rice, but I couldn't imagine eating that chewy starch they apparently eat in most of Africa (fufu and so forth, made from manioc or plantain or whatever it is they use).  Rice based and bread/potatoes based cuisines sound good to me, but not that other stuff.

[Senator Sbane]

Ethiopian food isn't bad, though their bread is too sour for me.

Also in bengal as well sometimes people will ask you "Bhath khecho" when asking you whether you have eaten. That literally means have you eaten rice. There is another word for food though, and using that makes infinitely more sense to me than assuming rice is food. Of course traditional Bengalis eat rice for breakfast...bleh.

[opebo]

Yea here the word for 'food' ('ahan') is quite distinct from rice, but you say 'take rice' for eating.

I like that Ethiopian 'bread', and Ethiopian food generally, though most of the time when I eat it back home I do get a bit of a tippy tummy.

[Χahar]

Ethiopian food isn't bad, though their bread is too sour for me.

Also in bengal as well sometimes people will ask you "Bhath khecho" when asking you whether you have eaten. That literally means have you eaten rice. There is another word for food though, and using that makes infinitely more sense to me than assuming rice is food. Of course traditional Bengalis eat rice for breakfast...bleh.

The other word being "khawa", yes?

[Senator Sbane]

Ethiopian food isn't bad, though their bread is too sour for me.

Also in bengal as well sometimes people will ask you "Bhath khecho" when asking you whether you have eaten. That literally means have you eaten rice. There is another word for food though, and using that makes infinitely more sense to me than assuming rice is food. Of course traditional Bengalis eat rice for breakfast...bleh.

The other word being "khawa", yes?

Khawar khecho?

[Simfan34]

Fufu? Ethiopian bread? (I presume you mean the spongy flatbread called injera and not the regular "Dabo" or "ambasha")



The thing about injera is that its spongy nature makes it literally expand in your stomach, so it's more filling than what you're initially eating. This is part of its popularity.

In a similar vein, I feel like cuisines of cultures where "a square meal a day" is not a given tend to be richer.

[Senator Sbane]

Yes, I mean injera.

[Secretary Polnut]

I prefer Northern, because I'm allergic to chilli so I need flavour without the heat...

[angus]

South Indian, for sure, but I can go either way.  Also, East Indian food is good.

In the US it is not uncommon to find a mix of cuisines on the menu.  Typically, you can order chicken vindaloo (more Goa than dravidian, I suppose), Saag Paneer (definitely northern), and Gulab Jamun (western), and Thukpa (East Indian), all from the same restaurant.

I think much of what we call "northern Indian" is Punjabi, but actually persian in origin.

[Frodo]

Not sure, but I like having meat in my diet, so certainly whatever Indian food I am eating is westernized to some degree.  This is the restaurant I go to for my Indian food.  Would anyone know if the food (meat aside) there is primarily northern or southern in origin?