tandy@ingres.Berkeley.EDU.ARPA (Tandy Warnow) (07/17/86)
In my opinion, South Indian food is the best vegetarian cuisine in the world. It is varied, subtle, and very tasty, and can be made without "hot" spices (chilies, peppers, ginger, etc) if you do not like hot food. The brahmin cuisine in South India tends to be milder than the non-brahmin cuisine, but both are delicious. Not only is the food delicious, it is (relatively) easy to prepare, and uses very little fat. Most of the recipes do not use any oil until the very end, when the dish is "seasoned" with mustard seeds. South Indian food uses a large amount of dal (lentils, split peas, etc) and so it is also high in protein. For nutrition and taste combined, nothing beats South Indian cuisine. One difference between North and South Indian food is that garlic, onions, and ginger, are not used generally in the south. In fact, Tamil brahmins do not eat garlic or onions at all. As a result, there is less need for oil in South Indian food than in North Indian food. Since there are more strict vegetarians in the South, the vegetarian food is more varied and delicious, as well as being more nutritious. In the north, meat is much more popular than vegetables (especially among the Muslims), and so the vegetarian food tends to suffer. Of course, the non-vegetarian food in the south isn't as good, perhaps, as the non-vegetarian food in the north, but we aren't interested in non-vegetarian food here, are we? While most Indian restaurants cater to American tastes and serve a lot of rich meat dishes, vegetarianism is such a basic fact of life in India for a large portion of the population (especially in the south) that every Indian restaurant will provide completely vegetarian meals. You do not need to worry about the food being prepared with animal products at all: Indian vegetarians are as strict about vegetarianism as Orthodox Jews are about the sabbath. For cookbooks, I suggest you just try any you can find. It is hard to find South Indian cookbooks, but even the North Indian cookbooks will be a worthy addition to your library. The books that I have that I like for vegetarian food are: (1) "World of the East: Vegetarian Cooking" by Madhur Jaffrey (2) "A Surti Touch: Adventures in Indian Cooking" by Malvi Doshi (3) "The Art of South Indian Cooking" by Aroona Reejhsing (4) "Cook and See" by S. Meenakshi Ammal The first book is probably the easiest to find, and includes vegetarian dishes from all over Asia (middle-east, Japan, China, Bali, India, etc.). There is not too much in it from South India, though. The second book is very nice, relying upon the cuisine of Gujarat. You may be able to find this book also without too much difficulty. The last two books are published in India, and so you might have some trouble finding them. The last book, "Cook and See" is probably the best book for the brahmin cuisine of Tamil Nadu, but it is probably not available generally. To cook Indian food, northern or southern, you will need to have an Indian market to shop in. If you don't know of any near to you, you can ask me to send you information on some nearby. (There is a list in the back of Madhur Jaffrey's book of markets selling asian foodstuffs, listed by nationality). The Indian market would also be the right place to purchase your cookbook. I'd also be glad to send in some recipies if anyone is interested. Tandy