Column | Where is India’s chutney map?
This article explores the cultural significance of chutney in India, suggesting it serves as a culinary map of the country's diverse regions and history. The author argues that chutney's immense variety and adaptability make it a better symbol of Indian unity than other national food candidates.
Why it matters
It highlights how food acts as a repository for regional history, biodiversity, and cultural identity in a diverse nation.
Every now and then, alongside debates about one national song or one election, a row breaks out on social media about whether India should have a national food just as it has a national animal.
Usually, it ends up as a food fight between the biryani bloc and the khichdi khandaan . But after reading Sudha G. Tilak’s new book, Chutney Chronicles , I think it should really be the chutney. As Tilak writes: “Chutneys function as flavour maps as well. Coconut traces the coasts, tamarind anchors the south, garlic and chillies blaze through the north, while the east leans into fruity tangs.”
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