Growing up and staying in Bombay from the 1960s through 1980s, good Indian food, as I knew it then, was always regional. Cooked and eaten a...
Growing up and staying in Bombay from the 1960s through 1980s, good Indian food, as I knew it then, was always regional. Cooked and eaten at home, it was delicious. As a young boy I would wait for my friends to invite me over for a meal…especially those who were from different parts/regions of India—from Maharashtra, Kashmir, Karnataka, Bengal, or Rajasthan. Some of these friends were Catholic, or Hindu, Muslim, Parsi, or Sikh. No matter who they were, or where they came from, there was always amazing food cooked and served at home. My love for food grew from these meals.
There were other cuisines we enjoyed when we went out to eat at restaurants—especially Mughlai, Chinese, and South Indian, or sometimes street fare of Chole Bhature. To most of us this was what we called Indian food. The food at home was never considered “Indian cuisine” as it was more Goan or Kashmiri, or Maharashtrian. The nicer restaurants predominantly served “restaurant food,” which was primarily Mughlai with a bit of tandoori or Punjabi food thrown in. These restaurants existed in every major city, with other options of lunch homes or smaller “hotels.”
Over the years the cuisine slowly evolved and Indian restaurants...
