Spice Crescendo

The Indian Mughal Empire was a champion of arts and exquisite architecture, reaching its zenith with the Taj Mahal. The Mughals were also masters of complex spice blends where many spices, often sweet and warming ones, were added at later stages of cooking, their interplay creating food as beautiful, heady and exhilarating as the art.

This was building on an ancient Hindu foundation of pungent spice use, but refined with the delicacy and fragrance of Persian influence.

The tradition spread along the belt of Islam from Indonesia to Africa, particularly shaping food in Malaysia and Sumatra where Indian traders left a legacy of cooking that is more intricately spiced than in the rest of South East Asia. It also spread to the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa, where South Asian immigrants brought their intoxicating spice blends to be assimilated and adapted into new forms.