• In June 2016, I read about one of the most interesting pieces of research about the Harappan culinary world. It was in an article published by the BBC about a project undertaken by archaeologists Arunima Kashyap and Steve Weber of Vancouver’s Washington State University in 2010, trying to find clues to the earliest foods of the Indian subcontinent. The duo conducted a starch analysis of the molecules gathered from the utensils and tools found on the excavation site in Farmana—south-east of the largest Harappan city of Rakhigarhi.
  • They used this method to determine what the Harappans ate during the peak years of their civilisation from 2500 BC to 1800 BC. Molecules of starch were extracted from pots, pans, stone tools and the dental enamel of both humans and animal fossils, since animals were often fed leftovers. Their research pointed to the possibility of eggplant, turmeric and ginger (maybe even clove), and they came up with a rough recipe, titled ‘proto curry’, or what may have been the very first curry of the subcontinent, over 4,000 years ago. And so, whether one accepts it or not, Indians have been eating curries for centuries. The point to make here is that while Indian food ‘is’ curry, it is not ‘only’ curry.