The other evening, we were at the unveiling of a beautifully produced coffee table book celebrating the culinary culture of our cities. The conversation soon drifted to a larger question. Why does regional Indian cuisine remain so underrepresented on the global culinary map?Publishers such as Heirloom Cities, whose Mumbai volume won the prestigious James Beard Award for design excellence, have been documenting India’s food heritage with remarkable depth. And a new generation of chefs, including Thomas Zacharias and Prateek Sadhu, are shining a spotlight on micro cuisines, indigenous ingredients, seasonal produce and age-old culinary traditions. Yet there is still a long road ahead before these stories move beyond pop-ups, chef’s tables andsupper clubs to become part of mainstream dining, both in India and abroad.It is a sentiment shared by some of India’s most respected culinary voices. Chef Priyam Chatterjee, recipient of the Ordre National du Mérite, one of France’s highest civilian honours, and recognised by the Michelin Guide in Singapore, recently told us that luxury dining needs to move beyond its deeply Eurocentric lens. And then we watched Asma Khan on Trevor Noah’s show, making a compelling case for South Asian cuisine. The London chef, whose Darjeeling Express has welcomed everyone from Hollywood stars to world leaders, spoke about how Indian food is still rarely viewed as “fine dining” despite its sophistication, technique and extraordinary depth. Her point was simple. Our cuisine deserves to stand alongside French, Italian and Japanese traditions, not remain boxed into lazy clichés of being merely “hearty” or “spicy.”Perhaps that is why platforms like TasteAtlas still tend to default to the familiar comfort of butter chicken and shahi paneer when representing Indian curries, even though India itself ranks among the world’s top cuisines. The global imagination often stops where our culinary story has barely begun.Thankfully, the story is changing. Today, everything from Naga and Pathare Prabhu cuisine to the produce of the Sundarbans and foraged Himalayan ingredients is finding its way onto some of the country’s most exciting tables. And supper clubs are championing Sindhi dal pakwan, heirloom rice varieties, and forgotten family recipes with pride.The world’s appetite for Indian food has never been greater. Perhaps the next chapter isn’t about making our cuisine more ‘global’. But making the world curious enough to discover just how gloriously local it has always been.
