Reply to Gene Weingarten is being DRAGGED for his article hating on indian food

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Shrugs.

I spent enough time eating in India as well as in Dubai, which probably has the best Indian dining scene outside India and in many ways, possibly even better than India itself, and there's truth to that [b]so much of Indian cooking is essentially overcooked brown mush tasting of the same handful of spices [/b](hi cumin!). Can it be more complex than that? Sure, but there's also a kernel of truth to it. The prevalence of certain spices seems to be so dominant and it's not to everyone's taste.

On the whole, I liked South Indian better than North Indian despite being spicier as there seemed to be more variety in flavors involved.

Nor is it racist to say one doesn't like Indian food. How many of you would argue it's racist to say you don't like Russian or Polish food? Neither are award winning cuisines and both, especially Russian, can have very unpleasant but common flavors. Pickled herring isn't for everyone. [/quote]
You might have a global experience of Indian food, but it hasn't stopped you from being completely ignorant of the diversity of Indian food. I'm really curious about where you've dined in India and Dubai, since I'm shocked that you walked away with this impression. As an Indian American who grew up eating Indian food, I'm can't think of a single dish of "brown mush". Okay, well, maybe certain varieties of daal. So, there's actually no "kernel of truth" to this statement, unless of course you've only ever sampled a very narrow variety of foods from a small region of India. Please name to me one South Indian dish that is overcooked brown mush. Or one Goan dish. Do you know how many Indians' cuisine you've blithely argued doesn't even count?

Your statement is no more accurate or informed than my saying that Italian food mostly consists of a red tomato sauce with pasta. The only scenario in which this has a "kernel of truth" is one in which my entire understanding of Italian food is limited to the offerings of Chef Boyardee.

Anyway, surprised Padma Lakshmi's response didn't make it to this thread, so I'll share it now: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/08/25/padma-gene-weingarten-indian-food/[/quote]

Take a long look at Indian restaurant menus, both in India and the US. Look at the colors of curries and other dishes. Many are variant shades of brown and beige. Even you admitted it to some degree.

A lot of Indian cooking does involve very long cooking times, with meat cooked to the point of falling off the bone in thick sauces, whether wet or dry fry. A lot of it is mushy (hi daal!).

I stand by what I said. I can occasionally enjoy Indian and I've eaten widely among the various regions of India but so much of it really is overcooked, overspiced brown mush in one form or another. Personally, I liked the Indian influenced curries of Malaysia and Thailand better as they're more developed and flavorful and the various ingredients, especially vegetables, are crisper rather than mushy. But that's all right. Not every cuisine is for everyone. Just like Russian or Polish isn't for everyone (heavy, stodgy, some weird flavors, beet!).

The real question is whether a thread on how terrible Russian food is would be called out as racist? Or the dull stodginess of much of Northern European food? I doubt it. But a thread on Indian cooking, with strongly dominant flavors and spices that not everyone likes, is racist. Got it.

[/quote]
I said you were ignorant, not racist.

And I have looked at menus in both countries. In the US I will grant option are limited, but even then it's not all mush. Dunno where you've eaten in India, but your experience isn't even close to mine. And, no, my agreeing that certain varieties and preparations of daal are brown and mushy is no more conceding your point than an Italian agreeing marinara sauce exists in my analogy.

I find it odd that you are insisting on arguing with a person of Indian origin that you understand the food I was raised eating better than me. Your sampling of restaurants which are typically limited to a narrow set of Indian cuisines doesn't mean you know everything about a millennia old food tradition.[/quote]

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