Tamil Nadu

The history of the picturesque state of Tamil Nadu, on the south-eastern coast, is one of occupation by the Dravidian people, who are supposedly the descendants of the ancient Indus Valley civilization. Indications of people living and farming in this warm, wet land go back 6,000 years, and the Dravidian Tamil language is at least 2,000 years old. In later centuries Tamil Nadu became part of the European trade routes and a focus for the East India Trading Company.

The food in Tamil Nadu is almost all vegetarian, partly for the purely practical reason that meat deteriorates quicker than vegetarian food in the muggy heat, and partly for religious reasons, as the majority of the population are Hindu or Jainist. Soft, fluffy idlis (rice dumplings), crispy, paper-thin dosas (rice pancakes) filled with spicy potatoes, and colourful vegetable and lentil dishes are all presented on emerald-green banana leaves. The food tends to contain a lot of fiery chillies; perhaps because this is where these now ubiquitous fruits were first introduced to the country by the traders from the New World. Locally grown spices such as curry leaves, tamarind, coriander, cumin and nutmeg, as well as many others, also have a strong presence.