Preface

A large number of books on the culinary art in India already exist, and it might seem that to add another to the series would be monotonous and burdensome to the reader unless there is something novel and practical to present. Some of the books available in the market were obviously written with a view to acquainting the European sojourners in India with the methods of adapting western ways of cooking to the articles of food available in India. It is a rather hotchpotch attempt at both Indian and English cuisines. Then there are other types of books written by Indian authors who have settled down in England, France or the U.S.A. The purpose of such books is to provide information regarding Indian cooking to the large number of Indians who have permanently settled abroad and for the benefit of the nationals of these countries who had been in India for some time. The authors of most of these books also tried to combine Indian and European dishes. Apparently the end in view was to enable them to produce something of the prototype of the Indian cuisines with the material available in those countries. The result was that quite a number of the preparations described by some of them were not really Indian in origin and the names given to such dishes were imaginary.