The cuisine of India, just like Indian culture in general, is very rich and diverse, an amalgamation of different traditions, and comprising a myriad of local idiosyncrasies. One of the common characteristics of most varieties of Indian cuisine is the emphasis on vegetables, spices and herbs–in fact, the discovery of the abundance of spices in India by European explorers and traders was one of the main driving forces behind Europe’s Age of Discovery in the late Renaissance and early modernity.

The evolution of the different varieties of Indian cuisine is particularly interesting because, on the one hand, they were heavily influenced by neighboring cultures, and the civilizations that ruled over India at one time or another, but, on the other hand, these developments influenced neighboring cultures and the cuisine of all of Asia, Europe, and–with the trend of globalization today–of virtually all of the world.

North Indian cuisine, for instance, tends to use a lot of dairy products, different kinds of bread, as well as foods of Muslim origin, such as kebabs. In Southern Indian foods, rice, coconuts, and curry are used very frequently. Eastern Indian cuisine is famous for its delicious desserts, along with other regional specialties. Of course, these are great generalizations; each region has subregional cuisines, all the way down to the local level.

Today, many places all over the world have Indian restaurants, that offer traditional Indian food as well as more modern dishes.