Indian food...I don't get it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also not a fan of Indian although I will have it on occasion when we go out with friends and they elect to have Indian.

It really is, to put it crudely, overspiced brown mush in varying guises for the most part. I can recognize and appreciate the culinary heritage built around spices and the use of spices as the flavors that dominate and enhance the dish, whereas the raw ingredients of the meats or vegetables or grains are far less important other than a vehicle for the spices. It's different from the traditional European culinary heritages where the success of the dish is based on enhancing the flavors of the raw ingredients and spices are only subtle enhancements to strengthen the original flavors.

Really? Brown mush sums up the totality of Indian food? If you don't like the cuisine that's fine, but your description and criticism of the cuisine is ridiculous to say the least.

OP, I get what you are saying. I have eaten Indian foods many times (in India; north and south) and it does seem to be many variations (and not that varied) on the same thing. It's not as varied as say, "American" where the range is a Caesar salad all the way to fries and burgers all the way to pork chop with applesauce and green beans. I was a fan of some creative preparations of paneer in the south, and the tandoor is a slight variation, but Indian in general was all the same theme. And that's OK and it's delicious when you are in the mood, but there you go.

Ha, you think Caesar salad, fries & burgers, and pork chops & green beans represent some kind of incredibly varied taste profile and cuisine? Not really.

Yeah, I was going to say I can't believe anyone thinks salt and pepper and lard and grease is a huge range of flavors.

[Anonymous]

I get it, OP. Maybe you're a supertaster. I love so many kinds of food, but I have trouble with intensely overseasoned food like Indian. And I've had multiple Indian friends (including several vegetarians and vegans) from a variety of areas of India cook me meals. They were gorgeous and interesting, but so overpoweringly seasoned I couldn't eat a lot of them. It just felt like, if they'd dialed the seasonings down 100 notches it would be great. Only one friend made a lot of delicately flavored dishes, and I can't remember where he was from.

I have similiar issues with certain Thai dishes. Like, it reminds me of Vietnamese food, except that the chef threw in 100 times the spices and intense flavor elements that were needed, so the basic ingredients are overwhelmed.

[Anonymous]

OP do you have a cultural background with a different kind of spicy food?

I ask because when I lived in London I found friends who grew up with Jamaican cooking were not so enamored with Indian food. It was spicy in too much of a "different" way from the Jamaican dishes they were used to eating.

However, I would happily eat either, pretty much every day of the week.

[Anonymous]

OP, you're not the only one. I've been to Rasika - it didn't change anything for me. I've been to all the "great" Indian restaurants mentioned in this thread - none of them changed my life. I've been to India - it was torture. I have Indian friends whose parents are AMAZING cooks overall (I love all their other food) but I just can't do their Indian food. And some have really put forth a lot of effort to try and get me to love it. And I feel the same way about Ethiopian food.

Even though I grew up in a family where we traveled EXTENSIVELY, all over the world, there are just some cuisines that I've never been able to get into. But Lord knows I've tried. As long as you've tried, and you aren't just speaking from a place of never having the food, I think you are fine in not liking it.

[Anonymous]

The smell coming from an Indian neighbors house turns my stomach. It's not for me (same as goat cheese - doesn't matter how it's prepared or you promise I'll love your dish it just doesn't taste good to me).

[Anonymous]

Since when does everyone have to like the same kinds of food?

I also love Mexican, Indian, Vietnamese, Lao, Persian, Filipino, Greek, some Japanese and some Caribbean cuisines.

I don't like French, Italian, Scottish, Nordic cuisine, and honestly not American food either. Not a fan of the standard British and Irish foods either. To me, there is not enough flavor and not enough vegetables. Too bland and I would never spend money at a restaurant for American food. So simple to make and overpriced.

When I eat meat, it should have the taste and aroma of a proper blend of spices. I don't like the taste of just meat/flesh, nor do I like the texture of big hunks of it. It should be marinated properly or cut into small pieces.

With Indian food, you need to understand the subtleties of the different spices that you are eating. Sometimes they are in the food for flavor, other times certain spices pair well with certain foods because it aids in the digestion process of that particle food item or the enhances the nutritional profile. Spices are some of nature's most amazing food items because they have so many variables to them. Nutrition, flavor, digestion, color, etc.

If your palate is not used to them and not able to properly discern the flavors then it does become overwhelming and can be too much. Especially so if you didn't grow up with these flavors.

So everyone is different. If you don't like a type of food, then don't eat it. Why do you think you have to like something just because others do? Some introspection might be needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it! My kids love it and DH loves it too. But, it is OK not to like it. I dislike Mexican and Tex Mex to the extreme, and also Greek cuisine and make no apologies. My DS started eating chicken curry at 11 months old! We lived in East Africa and Indian food is very popular there, that is how we got introduced to it. I was told by a Pakistani kid in my class, that here in the US we really don't know what real Indian/Pakistani food it. He is right. I see any raw onion and peppers and mush that is Mexican food to me, I get a gag reflex right away! It is perfectly fine you don't like it.

I know this thread is about Indian food--but how can you dislike Greek?!

Because of the raw onion mostly. I otherwise like the concept, but there is also some spice that I can' identify that makes me sick in addition to onion. Cooked onions, I am fine with. I always had some kind of sensitivity to raw onion, garlic and peppers, roasted and fresh. I get sick and throw up.

FODMAPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since when does everyone have to like the same kinds of food?

I also love Mexican, Indian, Vietnamese, Lao, Persian, Filipino, Greek, some Japanese and some Caribbean cuisines.

I don't like French, Italian, Scottish, Nordic cuisine, and honestly not American food either. Not a fan of the standard British and Irish foods either. To me, there is not enough flavor and not enough vegetables. Too bland and I would never spend money at a restaurant for American food. So simple to make and overpriced.

When I eat meat, it should have the taste and aroma of a proper blend of spices. I don't like the taste of just meat/flesh, nor do I like the texture of big hunks of it. It should be marinated properly or cut into small pieces.

With Indian food, you need to understand the subtleties of the different spices that you are eating. Sometimes they are in the food for flavor, other times certain spices pair well with certain foods because it aids in the digestion process of that particle food item or the enhances the nutritional profile. Spices are some of nature's most amazing food items because they have so many variables to them. Nutrition, flavor, digestion, color, etc.

If your palate is not used to them and not able to properly discern the flavors then it does become overwhelming and can be too much. Especially so if you didn't grow up with these flavors.

So everyone is different. If you don't like a type of food, then don't eat it. Why do you think you have to like something just because others do? Some introspection might be needed.

Agree! I don't go out for American food. What I can make at home is better. To each his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it! My kids love it and DH loves it too. But, it is OK not to like it. I dislike Mexican and Tex Mex to the extreme, and also Greek cuisine and make no apologies. My DS started eating chicken curry at 11 months old! We lived in East Africa and Indian food is very popular there, that is how we got introduced to it. I was told by a Pakistani kid in my class, that here in the US we really don't know what real Indian/Pakistani food it. He is right. I see any raw onion and peppers and mush that is Mexican food to me, I get a gag reflex right away! It is perfectly fine you don't like it.

I know this thread is about Indian food--but how can you dislike Greek?!

Because of the raw onion mostly. I otherwise like the concept, but there is also some spice that I can' identify that makes me sick in addition to onion. Cooked onions, I am fine with. I always had some kind of sensitivity to raw onion, garlic and peppers, roasted and fresh. I get sick and throw up.

FODMAPS

Ha, I didn't know what that meant and I just looked it up. It said on top avoid garlic and onion, I also have to avoid celery, apples and pears give me numbness on the tongue and mouth. Tahini and tzatziki paste are on that list. Things I find out from DCUM, amazing! I figured out that it was like a birch allergy with a food component, but didn't know about FODMAPS. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since when does everyone have to like the same kinds of food?

I also love Mexican, Indian, Vietnamese, Lao, Persian, Filipino, Greek, some Japanese and some Caribbean cuisines.

I don't like French, Italian, Scottish, Nordic cuisine, and honestly not American food either. Not a fan of the standard British and Irish foods either. To me, there is not enough flavor and not enough vegetables. Too bland and I would never spend money at a restaurant for American food. So simple to make and overpriced.

When I eat meat, it should have the taste and aroma of a proper blend of spices. I don't like the taste of just meat/flesh, nor do I like the texture of big hunks of it. It should be marinated properly or cut into small pieces.

With Indian food, you need to understand the subtleties of the different spices that you are eating. Sometimes they are in the food for flavor, other times certain spices pair well with certain foods because it aids in the digestion process of that particle food item or the enhances the nutritional profile. Spices are some of nature's most amazing food items because they have so many variables to them. Nutrition, flavor, digestion, color, etc.

If your palate is not used to them and not able to properly discern the flavors then it does become overwhelming and can be too much. Especially so if you didn't grow up with these flavors.

So everyone is different. If you don't like a type of food, then don't eat it. Why do you think you have to like something just because others do? Some introspection might be needed.

Agree! I don't go out for American food. What I can make at home is better. To each his own.

I am from Europe and I agree with not going out for your own food. Now, here American food is mine as well, you know melting pot... But, I will go out for steak, my mom loves it, and she goes on and on how come we don't have such good steak in our country. Which is totally true, unless you are buying tenderloin. When I first moved here from Europe, my FIL kept taking and telling me about this sausage place, and this schnitzel place and crepes and I was just like, why are we spending money on things I can make as good if not better and do make every week at home. I went to places that were exotic and maybe that accounts for me liking Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai food. Not so much Middle Eastern and South American and Mexican.

[Anonymous]

I'm Indian Anerican and I agree OP. Although there are some vegetarian things that are outstanding. The Indians have the monopoly on good vegetarian cuisine.

[Anonymous]

Indian here - this thread is hilarious. People are so ignorant!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Indian here - this thread is hilarious. People are so ignorant!!!

how so? What specifically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Indian here - this thread is hilarious. People are so ignorant!!!

Indian here too. I don't think it's strange to not like certain types of food. There are entire cuisines I can't try due to my dietary preferences. However I keep my opinions to myself and try not to judge that of which I have no clue.

[Anonymous]

I'm not a fan of Indian food. I don't mind the spices. But I just want them on the food, not in a sauce that covers the taste of the protein and vegetables. Actually, for vegetables, my preference is lightly steamed with no seasoning---I just like the taste of the vegetables.