What to eat and drink in India

10.09.2024 - 18:26 / lonelyplanet.com

Sep 10, 2024 • 12 min read

The food of India is one of the world’s great gastronomic delights. Few other places on the planet offer such an astonishing diversity of dishes and foodie experiences – in a country where every meal is a feast, eating is always one of the best things to do. 

India's food fame is thanks, in no small part, to its lavish palette of spices, which helped build the nation’s fortunes back in the days when strong flavorings were worth as much as gold by weight. India is the home of peppercorns, cardamoms, turmeric, and cinnamon (shared with neighboring Sri Lanka) and dozens of Asian cuisines partly owe their existence to India’s seasoning know-how.

In fact, Indian cooking is not one cuisine but many, drawing on the myriad cultures, customs, and microclimates in this vast and varied country. What is known ubiquitously outside India as “curry” is actually thousands of different dishes, grouped under one umbrella name taken from the Tamil word kari, meaning “spiced sauce”. Many treats are associated with religious events, so always keep an eye on the festival calendar.

Here’s a guide to the best things to eat and drink in India.

Raised on paddy fields as green as emeralds, rice is the national food of India, especially in the South. When ordering thalis – plate meals with multiple sauces – you’ll normally be given a choice of rice or various kinds of flatbreads. Either way, this serving of starch is often bottomless, and servers may come around offering top-ups of sauces, too. In some parts of India, a thali is known simply as a "meal."

Most rice is white – often the famous basmati rice exported from India around the world – but you’ll find regional variations, from Assam’s sticky rice to the red rice of Kerala in the south. Rice is typically boiled, but you’ll often find it served as pulao – spiced with vegetables – or as biryani, rice steam-cooked with spiced meat in a sealed pot in what is known as the dum puhkt style.

Also look out for jeera rice, mixed with cumin seeds (delicious with a dollop of natural curd) and South India-style lemon rice, which partners well with fish. Then there’s the ubiquitous fried rice served by India’s Chinese restaurants – a low-spice option that children often prefer. If you're vegan, Chinese-style veg fried rice is often a safe bet as it's usually cooked with oil, not ghee (clarified butter).

Where to try it: Various cities claim to produce India’s best biryani, but Hyderabad has one of the most convincing claims. Sample it at diner-packed, no-frills Hotel Shadab near the Charminar, or its closest rival, expanding local chain Paradise. It's best washed down with a cup of sweet, strong Irani chai.

While rice dominates in the south, wheat-based flatbreads are