indian cuisine is famous for its spicy content .. in fact they have been the genesis of european colonialism since vasco da gama landed in kerala in search of spices.. is india the only nation which uses spices dominantly or is there any other region which is so much ‘ spicy’ ??
We use a lot of spice here in China, particularly in the Sichuan and Hunan regions — just not in the huge doses India uses. I think the heavy use of spices originated in the early days before refrigeration, when people would try to cover the taste of food that had gone bad. Chinese cooking uses a lot less meat and tends to let the flavor of the food speak for itself, with a nice boost from peppers, of course.
#1 by Scott L on July 26, 2010 - 10:08 am
Far from it, though each culture has its own mixtures. The use of chili peppers (which came originally from America) is widespread, though. Well-known spicy cuisines are Hungarian and Romanian, Szechuan, southeast Asian, Mexican/Central American, West Indian.
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#2 by Solafide on July 26, 2010 - 10:40 am
We use a lot of spice here in China, particularly in the Sichuan and Hunan regions — just not in the huge doses India uses. I think the heavy use of spices originated in the early days before refrigeration, when people would try to cover the taste of food that had gone bad. Chinese cooking uses a lot less meat and tends to let the flavor of the food speak for itself, with a nice boost from peppers, of course.
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#3 by Sri on July 26, 2010 - 10:54 am
I dont think so, even koreans, bulgarians, even hungarians uses more amount of spice including alcohol in their foods. u can check thru the site
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/05/13/korea-kimchi/
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#4 by AQUALUNG on July 26, 2010 - 11:28 am
I think so because nearly all regional Indian cuisines use spices freely. While other ethnic cuisines also spice up their dishes, there are still numerous dishes that are near free of spices.
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#5 by Julia S on July 26, 2010 - 12:14 pm
I wouldn’t say that Indian food is the spiciest, or even that spicy is the predominant flavor in Indian food. I taste savory, salty, tart, creamy, and sweet things when I eat Indian.
Other cuisines that use spicy seasonings with some frequency: Mexican, Thai, Malaysian, Korean, and certain types of Chinese. Even some eastern European countries have some seriously spicy stuff going on. (Russian hot mustard? Ouch.)
All of these cuisines have different kinds and degrees on spiciness depending on what the source of the "hot" is. For example, mustard and horseradish provides a much different sensation than do chili peppers.
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#6 by schizojuc on July 26, 2010 - 1:00 pm
Malay and Indonesian cuisine does too.
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#7 by cecilia_tham on July 26, 2010 - 1:11 pm
Hot Spices – Mexico & India
Spices- India , Portugal & UK
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#8 by Mazen Y on July 26, 2010 - 1:50 pm
I think it applies for all far east countries, not specificaly India
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#9 by sm on July 26, 2010 - 2:12 pm
i think so
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#10 by killer vegeta on July 26, 2010 - 2:26 pm
ever heard of mexico?
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#11 by mathangi g on July 26, 2010 - 2:59 pm
in Indian cooking v use a lot of spices because each spice has got its own medicinal value. each spice forms part of the indian medicinal aid in ayurvedha. like cardamom and ginger for their highly digestive power, garlic for any acidity n gas problems, cinnamon for any tooth problems, and u can build the list. the idea behind the use of spices in generous amounts is simple.. its because to take in healthy food and all the essential medicines in the food so as to prevent from any future disorders and also to build the immune system.. the indian cooking system uses turmeric which is helpful for flavouring and coloring as well as it kills the grems in the food if any exists. fights against infections. thus its like the medicine in the food.. as v have our meals v also take in the essential supplements for the immune system.
as well other countries like china n thailand cuisines include a lot of spices in theeir food.. thus it keeps teh body healthy..
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#12 by ali baba on July 26, 2010 - 3:43 pm
Indian food do use a lot of spices, but swimilarly other regions /countries/cusine do use spices in their food,, eg: carribean..east asian… and so more.. basically these depends on the availalable in their regions .
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#13 by frisco on July 26, 2010 - 3:58 pm
INDIA IS NO 1 FOR SPICE PRODUCTION AND IN VERITIES.
2ND IS MEXICO AND 3RD IS CHINA.
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#14 by ღ♥♣ツ βUββLY ツ♣♥ღ on July 26, 2010 - 4:47 pm
Indian recipes are generally spicy, but chinese too is spicy. Indian spices are much related to ayurved and are beneficial too.
haldi, hing, daalchini, laung, jaiphal, javitri,tezpatta, elaichi, jeera, rai etc are famous anywhere in india. wherever you go you are sure to get spicy food.
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#15 by krishnamoorthynagarajan on July 26, 2010 - 5:12 pm
Mexican cuisine is some what similar.
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#16 by yogiraj on July 26, 2010 - 5:48 pm
No Pakistani cuisine is much more spicy than Indian cuisine.
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Own experience.
#17 by madhu on July 26, 2010 - 6:10 pm
not only indian . also indian
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#18 by rajan l on July 26, 2010 - 6:21 pm
Yes. There are so many spices which are used in Indian cooking of which the gentleman above would not be knowing. It is not just pepper, chilli etc there are so many ingredients used for cooking it is mind blowing. We have so many plants and roots in addition to fruits which are used in cooking. Even making sweets we have a wide variety. All these are having medicinal values and were being handed down over thousands of years. many of them are mentioned in Vedas and used in Ayurveda.
A small correction to the person who has mentioned that pepper is from south America. If yo study history Greeks and Roman came to south India for pepper and spices and paid in gold. Same is the case with English (British), Portuguese, French and Dutch to come to India.
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