Many questions are practically unanswerable. I received a column proposal and a request from Rachel Lopez, who oversees this piece at Brunch. “I’d like to read about curry in Rude Food,” she said.
“The term has such distinct interpretations in the West and India. I’m frequently asked by foreigners who makes the finest Indian curry, and I can never tell them the difference without offending them.
Rachel was, in a way, posing the age-old question: what is a curry?
I’ve attempted to find an answer, but God knows. In addition to the numerous articles I have written about it, I also hosted a TV program that went throughout Asia in an attempt to define curry. However, I have not yet come up with anything that even approaches being acceptable.
When Indian foodies discuss curry, we behave as though the word originated in Britain. Today, in an effort to appear informed, foreign food writers make claims such as “The word curry is not used by any Indians; the notion is unknown in India,” etc.
But this isn’t completely the case. The word curry is used in India. How many times have you heard someone boast about their mother’s mutton curry? How many times have you seen a prawn curry on an Indian menu?
The truth appears to be that, although we formerly used terms like gassi or korma to define our cuisine, we have now embraced the word “curry” as an umbrella term to encompass a wide range of foods.
