# Those who dislike indian food. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064 "2010-11-01T06:31:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/81 "2010-11-01T20:13:31Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > In my experience, this is more restaurant-style eating. > … > Chutneys and yogurt are eaten at the end of the meal, not mixed with the dishes. Well, I cook this way for myself too, but obviously I learned a lot of it from restaurants in America (and Ireland). I’ve never (yet) had the opportunity to go to India. As I said, I don’t mix chutneys and yogurt _into_ dishes, but it makes a lot of sense to me to have them _during_ the main dishes, especially raita for cooling off after something extra hot. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/82 "2010-11-01T20:19:11Z")
I love spicy food, but I can’t stand the taste of curry. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/83 "2010-11-01T20:19:17Z")
Yeah, well, those who grow up with the cuisine don’t need to cool off during the meal. 😃 So, it’s an adaptation that’s not native to the cuisine. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/84 "2010-11-01T20:24:51Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Thanks! I will try it. I freakin’ love khichhdi. I forgot the part where you serve it with a dollop of ghi. > [@](#): > > Did I tell you I made my own mango achar not too long ago? That’s impressive. I haven’t tried anything like that. Good eating to you! > [@Gestalt](#): > > I am Indian and so grew up eating Indian food, so naturally I love it. However, there are a few drawbacks > > 1. The healthy stuff is kind of boring for me. Not a huge fan of idlis, and growing up the daily dinner meal was rice with a thin soup [we called it saaru but it is like a mix in between daal and rasaam in terms of thickness and spiciness], followed by rice with yogurt. This type of Indian food doesn’t really get me going > > 2. The tasty stuff is sooo unhealthy. For maybe about three days I’ve been craving potato curry and pooris, and I think I’m going to ask my mom to make it for Thanksgiving, but talk about bad for you . . . carbs and deep-fried carbs > > 3. It’s pretty hard to make at home, at least authentically. You need about 6 billion ingredients and a pressure cooker. It sounds like you’re talking mainly about South Indian/vegetarian cuisine, which is just full of oil, ghi, butter, and cream. In Bengali cuisine – and Panjabi cuisine, too – there are plenty of meat and vegetable dishes that can be made with minimal fat content/frying and still be tasty. Of course, restaurants pile on the cream and butter, but when cooking at home, I use very little fat. Rice and most types of bread can be made without oil. (Okay, you won’t get luchis/puris, but the other breads are good too.) ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/85 "2010-11-01T20:30:52Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > That’s impressive. I haven’t tried anything like that. Good eating to you! Well, I had these two mangoes which were _clearly_ not good eating. They were perfect for achar, though. I cooked rotis only this past weekend with only a little bit of oil on the pan and no oil on the rotis. I did put some spices inside each one, so I guess they were more akin to prontis, but they were healthy as far as bread goes. I had it with my achar. And isn’t dhal pretty healthy? Butter chicken and the like are special meals. Mostly what we eat is okra, lightly sauteed/pan-fried, or carrots & peas & potatoes, or stuff like that. I admit I almost never cook Indian meat dishes, though. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/86 "2010-11-01T20:42:32Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Yeah, well, those who grow up with the cuisine don’t need to cool off during the meal. 😃 So, it’s an adaptation that’s not native to the cuisine. Huh, it works so superlatively, I assumed that was by design. And regardless of a “need” to cool off (by most lights I’m pretty fire-resistant), it shifts the palate, which makes it possible to re-experience heat and flavors in a way that can’t happen if you just keep eating more of the same dish. (Similar principles apply to other combinations; it’s not all about heat and heat-cancellation.) ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/87 "2010-11-01T20:45:06Z")
Hey, maybe we should have a thread for people who _like_ Indian food? ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/88 "2010-11-01T20:51:50Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > It sounds like you’re talking mainly about South Indian/vegetarian cuisine, which is just full of oil, ghi, butter, and cream. In Bengali cuisine – and Panjabi cuisine, too – there are plenty of meat and vegetable dishes that can be made with minimal fat content/frying and still be tasty. Of course, restaurants pile on the cream and butter, but when cooking at home, I use very little fat. Rice and most types of bread can be made without oil. (Okay, you won’t get luchis/puris, but the other breads are good too.) Huh, that’s interesting, because I was always under the opposite impression: south Indian food is lighter and healthier than creamy/oily north Indian (particularly Punjabi) stuff. Note that I said that our every day food is very light on the oil. My mom often makes curries and things that are light on oil, and even dosais are okay for you. It’s just the puris, samosa, chaats, etc that I love that are bad for you. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/89 "2010-11-01T20:52:53Z")
Actually besides pooris, I can’t think of any south Indian dishes that are have much oil/ghee/butter/cream. Maybe what we call bisi bele bath? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/90 "2010-11-01T21:13:36Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Hey, maybe we should have a thread for people who _like_ Indian food? You mean like this one? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/91 "2010-11-01T21:38:01Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > I’ve got another one. > > If you just scanned the average Indian menu, you’d see prominently featured a number of base ingredients that aren’t super popular in the average American diet. I’m thinking lamb/goat, cauliflower, eggplant, okra (yes, yes, I know that there are **some** Americans who like cauliflower or okra, but you’d likely not serve them up if you were catering a function and looking to please the broadest American tastes). This could be offputting from the get-go (a **lot** of Americans have a visceral distaste for lamb/mutton, or think they do, in the modern era, and might be suspicious of any menu that has a bunch of lamb dishes). Wait, what? Lamb’s delicious. Is it really not eaten much in the States, and if not, why? As for the OP, I can’t answer, as I love Indian food, and all spicy food in general. What I do know is, after watching some friends struggle, red-faced and sweating, to eat more than a few mouthfuls of a Thai curry I made, I will never again claim that something I’ve made “isn’t that spicy”. Apparently my standards are different to most! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/92 "2010-11-01T21:41:31Z")
> [@Jennyrosity](#): > > Wait, what? Lamb’s delicious. Is it really not eaten much in the States, and if not, why? For a lot of complex economic, environmental, social, and historical reasons, meat from goat/kid and sheep/lamb is not popular in the United States. Marvin Harris has taken a shot at explaining it, but I’d have to look back to see what he said. Speaking broadly, Americans will rarely eat meat that’s not from cow, pig, chicken, or turkey. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/93 "2010-11-01T21:53:04Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Wiki says fermented black lentils, dehusked, and rice. > Hey! Do you have a recipe for kichdhi? I have no idea what the English transliteration is…hang on…like rice and lentils together, maybe it’s khichhuri? Indian khichuri and English [kedgeree](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedgeree) are different animals with the same background. I lke my khichuri/khichri/khichdi with a dollop of ghee, some fried potatoes, and perhaps a piece of fried fish. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/94 "2010-11-01T21:54:37Z")
Yes, khichuri definitely needs something fried or crunchy to go with it. In a pinch, you can use potato chips or potato sticks. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/95 "2010-11-01T21:57:41Z")
> [@Jennyrosity](#): > > Wait, what? Lamb’s delicious. Is it really not eaten much in the States, and if not, why? Yes, really. Average consumption per capita is either slightly less or slightly more than one pound per year – but even that’s misleading as it’s likely skewed by lamb-loving immigrants from the ME and elsewhere who are eating several/many pounds a year. By contrast, Americans eat about 66 lbs. of beef and 50 of pork per head per year. [http://www.meatami.com/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/48781](http://www.meatami.com/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/48781) If you picked an average American you would not go far wrong to assume that he: (a) ate lamb once a year, in the form of leg of lamb with mint jelly, around Easter or Passover time; or (b) does not eat any lamb, all year. Mutton? Forget about it, it’d be difficult to imagine where to even get it outside an ethnic market. Why? Lots of reasons. Supply creates demand to an extent (the reason Kiwis lead the lamb pack at 57 lbs. per year – they’ve got a lot of it!). Lack of a huge sheep industry (can sheep be factory farmed?), unlike the massive cattle and pork industries (which tie into the massive corn/feed industry – can you feed corn to sheep, I wonder?), and industrial chicken farming. Also, lamb meat is often less marbled than say beef so if cooked like beef (the default), would tend to come off as dry/tough. That disgusting mint jelly (seriously). Stereotypically (i.e., mostly truly) white Americans in the past Century (or at least, post-WWII) did not like anything that tasted “strong” – not just spices, but the least bit of gamy flavor in meat was shunned (game also had a bit of a stigma because it hearkens back to the days of hillbillies out in the woods huntin’ for some food). Think American cheese as exemplar. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/96 "2010-11-01T21:58:55Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > > [@spark240](#): > > > > Hey, maybe we should have a thread for people who like Indian food? > > You mean like this one? 😛 All your naan are belong to us! I, for one, welcome our new spicy delicious overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/97 "2010-11-01T23:32:37Z")
Now you all are making _me_ hungry! I haven’t cooked Indian food in an age because the SO’s allergic to chili (I know, right?!), but right now, I would kill for some pani puri, followed by some paratha and achar. :drool: **Huerta88** – I’ve lived on nothing but daal for 3 months. It gets old. Quick. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BeeDubU2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BeeDubU2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeDubU2)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/98 "2010-11-02T00:35:41Z")
For me, there are a few issues. Disclaimer: I LOVE spicy food, and I love strong flavors. However, the various curries my co workers bring for lunch smell atrocious. I don’t like cumin at all, although I love Mexican food (go figure). I think my big issue is texture. I don’t like Gloppy or chalky food, and 80% of the Indian cuisine I’ve seen falls in those categories. Further, the daals and other veggies my coworkers bring in don’t seem… appealing. They’re from the Mumbai area, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/99 "2010-11-02T13:47:40Z")
Oh…I love lamb. Guess that’s why I never see it anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064/100 "2010-11-02T13:51:47Z")
I love Indian food. All of it. The only trouble is that the aroma can stick around for a few hours after, so its not a great choice for a midday meal if you’re meeting clients later. For dinner, it’s great. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-who-dislike-indian-food/559064.md?page=6)