Let’s dismiss the curry delusion

It holds onto your clothing for dear life, penetrating every layer of your North Face. It clings to your hair like a barnacle, only releasing its death grip with the aid of globs of shampoo. It’s a persistent smell, the smell of ... curry? Not exactly.

As a first-generation Indian-American, I have substantial experience with Indian cuisine, but I felt completely out of the loop when it gained popularity and started being referred to as “curry.” Was I less cultured than I thought? Had my mother failed to cook this trendy dish at home?

I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that “curry” is a misnomer, and I hadn’t spent 20 years in oblivion. Apparently, “curry” is “a pungent dish of vegetables, onions, meat or fish, etc., flavored with various spices or curry powder, and often eaten with rice.”

If you’ve ever visited the various states of India, or even one state of India, you know the diversity of dishes can be startling. The assortment of rice and bread and the combinations of vegetables and gravies would probably make your head spin.

To dump most of India’s dishes into one category is a vague and oversimplified survey of Indian cuisine. “Curry” is only one part of the quintessential Indian meal, the other parts most often being flat bread, yogurt, a combination of two or three cooked vegetables, raw vegetables (to cool the effects of chili peppers) and rice.

Most of the time, “curry” is not even eaten with rice but with a type of flat bread. Rice is often the item used to finish off the last few spoonfuls of “curry,” kind of like the second-best friend to whom you give your other concert ticket when your real best friend is away on vacation.

Other times, “curry” is eaten with an accompaniment radically different from flat bread or rice. For example, in south India, one type of “curry” is eaten with small cakes made of fermented black lentils.

“Curry” is such a narrow and non-descriptive term that it gives outsiders a foggy view of Indian cuisine. “Curry” can consist of cheese, vegetables, chickpeas or just plain lentils. Its gravy, which is left out of its definition entirely, comes in varying consistencies and is, therefore, eaten in different manners.

Perhaps part of the “curry” phenomenon is the rise of curry powder, yet another misconception about Indian cooking. It’s a commercially manufactured blend of spices and a naïve attempt to master a cuisine that can be rather complicated. Every Indian recipe calls for its own unique set of spices and ingredients, so the correct flavor can’t be achieved with a one-size-fits-all spice mix.

The term “curry” simply doesn’t do Indian cuisine justice and neither does the westernized concoction of curry powder. So the next time you leave an Indian restaurant reeking of spices and fried delicacies, refrain from describing it as “curry.” Keep it simple, stupid, and just say “Indian food.”


E-mail: pkansal@indiana.edu