India is a foodie's perfect destination, boasting not one or two, but about as many cuisines as the countless communities that call the country home. It's all very well to broadly categorise the foods of India into North Indian and South Indian for the purpose of simplicity. But that is a simplistic division, you'll realise, for even within every state in India you can find great culinary variation.
The Punjabis have created a combination of the northwest frontier cuisine and Mughlai recipes to present rich poultry and mutton dishes. The ubiquitous 'tandoori chicken' is a great favourite!
Goan cuisine, on the other hand, is the result of the blending of local Konkani and Portuguese food styles. This culinary amalgamation and adaptation has created fiery coconut based curries and stews using pork and beef and rich cakes and pastries, as well as an interesting range of port and red and white wines.
While the coastal regions display a preponderance of fish and fish dishes, the northern regions favour chicken and mutton. In the northernmost state of Jammu & Kashmir, mutton is the piece de resistance in the formal banquet called 'wazawan', which includes a spread of over 36 courses cooked all night long by a team of chefs called 'wazas', descendants of the cooks of Samarkand.
The three states of Kerala, Goa and West Bengal constitute the fish loving populace. The culinary delights of Goa and Kerala differ from that of West Bengal in that they rely more on coconut in their preparations. In sharp contrast are the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, which display a clear penchant for vegetarian food.
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