08/24/2021
So upset to read the Washington Post piece about foods a certain writer dislikes and see that Indian food is equated with curry powder yet again. I’ve been trying to explain to Americans for two decades that there is no such thing as “curry” in India. That’s why I started Un-Curry, to teach people how to cook REAL Indian food because my country doesn’t have just one cuisine or one kind of food with one kind of smell or flavor. It has thousands of years of varied culinary traditions, spices and spice blends, flavorings, and ways of cooking. To lump them into a simplistic notion of food, thanks to a powder concocted by the British that no self-respecting Indian would cook with, and that doesn’t smell “Indian” at all, is ridiculous and ill informed. In this day and age, for the writer to say he does not like Indian food because he doesn’t like the smell of curry powder? Oh boy, he’s missing out. He’s never tasted the real thing, has he? Happy to cook for him any time.
