Falooda: A Timeless Dessert from Mughal Origins to Global Delight

Falooda, a delightful cold dessert rooted in Mughal cuisine, carries a storied history that spans centuries, beginning in the royal courts of the Mughal Empire in India. This dessert, with its remarkable mix of textures and flavors, has evolved significantly from its origins, weaving its way into the cultural fabric of South Asia and beyond.

The origins of falooda trace back to the Persian dessert “faloodeh,” one of the oldest known cold desserts, originating in ancient Persia (modern-day Iran). Faloodeh was made using vermicelli noodles, rose water, and sugar syrup and often served as a cooling treat during the hot Persian summers. When the Mughals came to India in the 16th century, they brought their cuisine, including faloodeh, which they adapted to incorporate local ingredients and culinary preferences. Given the Mughal fondness for opulent, multi-layered desserts, faloodeh was transformed into what we now know as falooda.

Falooda's unique preparation includes thin vermicelli noodles made from wheat or cornstarch, sweet basil seeds (sabja) soaked until they expand to form a jelly-like texture, rose syrup for a floral sweetness, milk for creaminess, and ice cream or kulfi for added indulgence. Some versions add fruit chunks, nuts like pistachios, and saffron, enhancing both flavor and presentation. These elements make falooda a refreshing treat, particularly suited to the tropical climates of South Asia.

As Indian communities migrated, falooda’s appeal spread across borders. In Pakistan, falooda is often served as a vibrant street food delicacy, popular in bustling bazaars. In Bangladesh, it is enjoyed with regional variations, often featuring more tropical flavors, such as mango. In Sri Lanka, the dessert is commonly served with a twist, incorporating local ingredients like jelly cubes. Its popularity has even reached the Middle East, where similar ingredients are used in various desserts.

Today, falooda is not just a dessert but a symbol of cultural fusion and culinary heritage. Its enduring popularity across generations and borders is a testament to its adaptability and universal appeal. From high-end restaurants to humble street stalls, falooda is celebrated as both a nostalgic treat and a trendy dessert choice, appreciated for its cooling effect and its blend of flavors that evoke the luxurious indulgence of Mughal India. In an era where food trends come and go, falooda stands as a timeless dessert, capturing the essence of history, flavor, and cultural evolution.
Falooda: A Timeless Dessert from Mughal Origins to Global Delight

Origin of Naan bread

Naan, a traditional bread, is made by baking it in a tandoor oven and crafted from a mixture of flour, yeast, sugar, salt, ghee, water, and yogurt.

The first known reference to Naan dates back to 1300 AC when the Indian poet and musician Amir Khusrow mentioned it, but its origins likely go even further back, possibly to the time when yeast was introduced to India from Egypt.

During India's Mughal era in the 1520s, Naan held a special status as a delicacy exclusively enjoyed by nobles and royal families due to the limited number of skilled individuals who could make it.

The name "Naan" is derived from the Persian word "nān," which simply means bread. In Iran, it serves as a general term for any type of bread. Similarly, other languages like Turkish, Uzbek, Uyghur, and Kazakh use variations of 'nan' to refer to flatbreads, showcasing the striking similarities across regions.

Throughout history, Naan has been traditionally cooked in a hot tandoor oven, either in the ground or with hot wood charcoal, producing temperatures as high as 900°F (480°C). The dough is shaped into a ball and then slapped onto the interior walls of the tandoor, a clay oven.

The Naan bread served in Indian restaurants worldwide likely originates from the culinary traditions of both India and Pakistan.

Over the centuries, Naan has spread to various regions, including Myanmar, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and the Chinese region of Xinjiang. As people migrated, Naan also found its way to the Persian Gulf.

In the early 1800s, an English historian and clergyman named William Tooke mentioned Naan in his logs and later incorporated it into his etymological Encyclopedia of Russia. His work introduced the recipe and tradition of Naan bread to the Western world, where it continues to be a cherished part of Indian cuisine.
Origin of Naan bread

The history and origin of paneer

Paneer represents one of the soft varieties of cheese family and is used in culinary dishes/snacks. About 5% of milk produced in India is converted into paneer.

The word paneer comes from the Persian, Armenian and Azerbaijani word panirpeynir' -- both of which refer to various preserved cheeses. Paneer means the product obtained from cow or buffalo milk or a combination thereof by precipitation with sour milk, lactic acid or citric acid.

The earliest evidence of the word's usage can be found among the Bakhtiari, a nomadic Iranian tribe from the Isfahan region, who developed a cheese called paneer-khiki, which literally translates to 'container and skin'.

People during the Kusana and Saka Satavahana periods (AD 75–300) used to consume a solid mass, whose description seems to the earliest reference to the present-day paneer. The solid mass was obtained from an admixture of heated milk and curd.

It is believed that the nomads of south west Asia were the first to develop several distinctive heat and acid coagulated varieties of cheese. According to a theory, the Mongols were out on a long trip, riding horses that were carrying milk in Mushkis (bags made of raw hide). However, the heat of deserts and the rennet in the leather turned the milk into paneer. They tasted the resultant product and found it to be rather delicious.

It was brought to India, primarily in North India, in the 16th century by the Persian and Mughals where it was made with either goat or sheep rennet and mixed with various Indian spices and vegetables.

The process of modern paneer making is derived from the Portuguese method of ‘breaking’ milk using an acid like lemon juice. Earlier milk was coagulated using heat and sour milk or by proteolytic enzymes from creeper like Putika or bark of Palasa.
The history and origin of paneer

History of tea in Assam, India

The discovery of this native tea plant in 1815 was a huge boon for English trade in British-colonized India. Conflict between China and India as well as shipping and trade competition with the Dutch made it harder and harder for the English to keep up a successful tea trade. When the British were looking for suitable lands for tea plantations, Robert Bruce went on an expedition to Assam, in 1823.

Scottish adventurer and botanist Robert Bruce is said to have confirmed the discovery of India’s native tea plant in 1823. In 1823 Bruce was on a trading mission. Bruce was reportedly directed by Maniram Dewan to Bessa Gam who was the local Singpho chief. Maniram Dewan was the first Indian to start planting tea in Assam. He was a Dewan (chief administrative and financial officer) of Assam Company until he resigned in 1841 to start his own tea estate.

Bessa Gam, the Singpho tribe chief showed Robert Bruce how local tribesmen brewed the beverage from leaves of the wild tea like plants. The Singpho tribe is indigenous to the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra valley and the foot of the Himalayas and were the first in the whole region to use wild tea-like plants for their beverage. Bruce was convinced he had discovered an alternative and the monopoly that China had over tea.

Bruce made an arrangement with the tribal chief to give him samples of these tea leaves with seeds, as he planned on having them scientifically examined. Robert Bruce died shortly after sending some tea plants for testing even before the plant was properly classified.

Charles Bruce, Robert’s brother, took over the research when his brother died. Bruce explored the wild Assam tea plants growing across the region and learned that local tribes had been using tea for centuries as both food and beverage. In early 1830, Robert Bruce’s brother, sent a few of these leaves to a botanical garden in Calcutta to be properly examination and it was then that this plant was officially classified as a tea variety and named Camellia sinensis var. Assamica.

By the 1830s, Bruce figured out how these plants could be propagated and cultivated to create what ultimately became a British-dominated tea industry in India. The discovery of tea plants in Assam enabled the East India Company to develop a trade, which China had hitherto monopolized for a long time.

The then Governor-General Lord Bentick set up the Tea Committee in 1834. It issued a circular about the locations where tea could be grown, and ultimately Assam was considered ideal. The first consignment of twelve boxes of tea manufactured by the Singphos of Arunachal was shipped from Calcutta to London in 1835.

Charles Bruce was later appointed as the superintendent of the tea forests of the government of Great Britain. In 1836, Charles Bruce, on his initiative, set up a tract of land in Sadiya, Assam, as a nursery and planted it with indigenous tea seed plants. The plants survived and, with the help of Chinese workers, Charles managed to quietly dispatch a small sample of manufactured tea to the Tea Committee the same year.

The first company that was set up for growing and making this tea was the Assam Tea Company, started in the year 1839. It expanded steadily and by 1862, the business comprised over 160 gardens, all owned by 5 public companies along with 57 private players.

Assam was the first Indian tea region to gain global recognition, which the British built by developing the estate model.
History of tea in Assam, India

History of sambar

Sambar is a dish which is a lentil-based vegetable stew that is very popular in South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Seemandra also popular in Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

When the Marathas took over Tanjavur in the 17th century, they brought with them their culture, a major part of which was their dietary practices. It is said that Sambhaji, Chhatrapati Shivaji’s son, was a great cook himself.

Most popular story in origin of Sambar it was invented in the kitchen of Thanjavur Marathas ruler Shahuji during the 17th century from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Shahuji (r. 1684–1712), the son of Ekoji (r. 1676–1684), the founder of the Maratha rule at Thanjavur.

Shahuji, trying to make a dish called Amti, basically a dal that is a little watery and has a tangy taste. He experimented with pigeon peas instead of mung beans and tamarind pulp for Kokum (a plant in the mangosteen family). The other chefs telling him that tamarind is never added to Dal. Sambhaji laughed it off saying that he is just experimenting.

The court named it sambhar after the guest of the day, Sambhaji, second emperor of the Maratha Empire.

However, many Tamil Brahmins, native to Tanjavur disagree with this theory. They believe that a curry similar to that of sambar existed centuries before the advent of the Marathas.

It is said that the dish slowly made its way into kitchens across the state and eventually made its way to south India where it became a staple dish. There are many ways to eat sambar. It's a dish that can be paired with anything from Dosas to bread.
History of sambar

History of samosa

Originally named samsa, after the pyramids in Central Asia, historical accounts also refer to it as sanbusak, sanbusaq or even sanbusaj, all deriving from the Persian word, sanbosag.

The first mention of samosa can be found around the 10th or 11th century in the Middle East, in historian Abolfazl Beyhaqi's work Tarikh-e Beyhaghi, where it is referred to as sambosa. He describes a dainty delicacy, served as a snack in the great courts of the mighty Ghaznavid empire. The fine pastry was filled with minced meats, nuts and dried fruit and then deep fried till the pastry was crisp.

The Central Asian samsa was introduced to the Indian subcontinent in the 13th or 14th century by chefs from the Middle East and Central Asia who cooked in the royal kitchens for the rules of the Delhi Sultanate, although some accounts also credit merchants for bringing the fare to this part of the world.

In the older days, people would cook the mince-filled triangles over campfire and eat them as snacks during travel. And after having earned the blessings of the Indian royalty, the snack soon became food fit for the king.

Once the samosa was taken up and tailored to local tastes, it becoming the world's first fast food. Ibn Battuta, the medieval Moroccan traveler who visited India in the 14th century, has chronicled the glittering banquets at the court of Muhammad bin Tughlaq. According to his accounts, a dish called sambusak (aka samosa) made with minced meat, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, and spices being served as part of a royal meal in the court of Muhammad bin Tughluq.

The samosa is endlessly adaptable and India introduced its own spices - adding coriander, pepper, caraway seeds, ginger and more.
History of samosa

Curry leaves in India

India is rightfully called as the “Botanical garden of the world”. It is the land of several medicinal plants and herbs that are traditionally used to cure ailments. Murraya koenigii, is one such plant, also called the curry leaf. It belongs to the family Rutaceae.

The species name commemorates the botanist called Johann Konig. The genus Murray commemorates Swedish physician and botanist Johann Andreas Murray who died in 1791.

In India, curry leaves have been used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine since ancient times and are believed to have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. Ayurveda is an ancient Indian medical science, the origin of which can be traced back to the Vedas, which are the oldest available classics of the world.

The importance and the use of curry leaves as a flavoring for vegetables is described in early Tamil literature dating back to the 1st to 4th centuries AD.

Its use is also mentioned a few centuries later in Kannada literature.

The small, shiny, pungent leaves are still closely associated with South India where the word 'curry' originates from the Tamil 'kari' for spiced sauces. An alternative name for curry leaf throughout India is kari-pattha.

The leaves are used in similar way to the bay leaf in western countries and are employed in fresh, dried and powdered forms.

Curry leaf trees are naturalized in forests and abandoned land throughout the Indian subcontinent except in the higher parts of the Himalayas. From the Ravi River in Pakistan its distribution extends eastwards towards Assam in India and Chittagong in Bangladesh, and southwards to Tamil Nadu in India.

They were then spread by Indian migrants and are widely cultivated in home garden across Asia.
Curry leaves in India

History of Rice in India

India is an important center of rice cultivation. The rice is cultivated on the largest areas in India. The country has the world’s largest area and is the second highest producer of rice. The crop is grown under varying climatic and soil conditions under diverse ecologies spread over about 43 million hectares.

Historians believe that while the indica variety of rice was first domesticated in the area covering the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas (i.e., north-eastern India), stretching through Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Southern China, the japonica variety was domesticated from wild rice in southern China which was introduced to India.

Combining archaeobotany and genetics suggests that O. sativa subsp. indica emerged through hybridization from a proto-indica that was managed in a morphologically wild state with introduced domesticated japonica rice, perhaps circa 2000 BC.

Archaeological work in India uncovered at the Neolithic site Lahuradewa in the Ganges Valley containing evidence of rice consumption dating to 7000 – 5000 BC.

Clear domesticated rice began to become widespread across northern India between 2000 and 1500 BC.

Perennial wild rice still grows in Assam and Nepal. It seems to have appeared around 1400 BC in southern India after its domestication in the northern plains. It then spread to all the fertile alluvial plains watered by rivers. Some says that the word rice is derived from the Tamil word arisi.

Arab traders took arisi with them and called it al-ruz or arruz in Arabic. This became arroz in Spanish and oriza in Greek.

Rice is first mentioned in the Yajur Veda (c. 1500-800 BC) and then is frequently referred to in Sanskrit texts. In India there is a saying that grains of rice should be like two brothers, close but not stuck together.

Asian rice cultivation spread to become a major agricultural staple throughout much of monsoon Asia between 1000 and 0 BCE, and it also began to be adopted on a smaller scale as a crop in Mesopotamia. One author has proposed that rice was introduced to lower Mesopotamia from India during the Achaemenid period, probably on the strength of a 4th century BC description by Diodorus of rice among military provisions at Susa.

The crop may well have been introduced to Greece and the neighboring areas of the Mediterranean by returning members of Alexander the Great’s expedition to India around 344-324 BC.

Rice was a major crop in Sri Lanka as early as 1000 BC. Before entering Sri Lanka in 543 BC, indica rice made their way to Malaya and from here to the Indonesian island of Java.
History of Rice in India

Wheat in ancient India

Indian’s climate is dominated by the monsoon, a wind that brings alternating seasons of hot, dry weather and heavy rain and flooding. In the drier west and north, wheat was the crop from early times.

Wheat was used by the people of the Indus Valley Civilization. Grains of wheat have been found from various sites of Indus valley civilization. Historians believe that the Harappans ate mostly wheat, rice and lentils. They use the wheat to make stews, soups and flat bread called chapati.

According to research bread wheat was cultivated in west Asia long before the date of the earliest finds in India, it remains certain that the northwest of the Indian subcontinent is a major center of diversity of the species, T. sphaerococcum, which is a wheat of great antiquity and which has been found in the excavations at Mohenjo-daro dating back to 2300 BC , is supposed to have originated in the northwestern are of the Indian subcontinent.

Emperor Anoshirwan (531 AD to 579 AD) arrange for a land survey and determine the amount of land tax to be paid by tillers on the field growing of wheat, and also other crops.
Wheat in ancient India

History of lemongrass

Botanical name for lemongrass is Cymbopogon citrates. The genus name, Cymbopogon, comes from the Greek “kymbe” meaning boat and pogon, meaning beard. The original use of lemongrass was probably as a food flavoring agent in Asia. The leaves are cooked with foods especially curries.

Lemongrass provides a milder, sweeter, and far less sour lemon flavor to soups, teas and a variety of dishes.

The origin of lemongrass is unknown, but the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians have use lemongrass for centuries as a flavoring agent in medicines and as an aromatic in cosmetics. Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder reported in the use of aromatic grasses in the first century.

Ancient palm-leaf manuscripts found in India were preserved with lemongrass oil. Systematic cultivation and distillation of essential oil began in Kerala, India in the 1880s.
History of lemongrass

History of Maggi brand in India

Nestlé India Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of the global FMCG major, Nestlé SA, introduced the Maggi brand in India in 1982.

With launch of Maggi 2 Minute Noodles, Nestlé created an entirely new food category - instant noodles - in the Indian packaged food market. Maggi’s share of the urban instant noodles market in India reached more than 90% at its peak.

In the early 1990s, for the first time, Maggi faced some genuine competition from Indo Nissin Foods Limited, with the launch of Cup Noodles and Top Ramen noodles.

One of the strategies that the company undertook to improve the sales of small packs was to improve their distribution in the market. It sold soups under the Maggi Hot Cup brand through vending machines, which were place at busy locations such as offices and railway stations. Maggi Hot Cup was targeted at working people and consumers on the move.

Although Maggi is probably best known for its flagship product of instant noodles, it has added enormously to its range over the years. Today, the Maggi range includes a variety of products catering to different taste preferences; this range includes dal atta, vegetable atta and rice noodles.
History of Maggi brand in India

Tamarind in India

Native to tropical Africa, the large evergreen tamarind tree spread to India in prehistoric times. From the Hindus, it would seem that the fruit became known to the Arabians. The name of Tamarind derives from the Arabic tamar-u’l-Hind, which means “date of India.”

It would have been Arabs who first brought tamarind across the Persian Gulf from India, influencing the cooking of the southeast of Iran, the Gulf region, and Egypt.

Tamarinds are mentioned by the Arabian writers, who ascribe to them anti-bilious virtues, but dwell particularly on their usefulness in correcting nausea, quenching thirst and allaying febrile excitement.

The abundance of tamarinds in Malabar, Coromandel and also Java was reported to Manuel, king of Portugal in 1516 in the letter of the apothecary Pyres on the drugs of India.

The tree of tamarind is found across Indian cities and villages. India has the largest number of tamarind trees in the world. It used in many South Indian foods such as sambars, fish curries, chutneys and rasams.
Tamarind in India

Banana in India

Banana plants were cultivated in India from early times. Religious rituals and Sastric tradition describe it as highly auspicious plant, particularly for marriage ceremonies. The leaves and fruits are deposited on doorstep of houses where marriages are taking place.

Banana fruit is considered to be a symbol of fertility and good luck. Its plant is associated with Vishnu and Lakshmi. According to one tradition, the banana is the incarnation of Lakhsmi, the goddess of wealth, beauty and wisdom.

Banana is also the subject of Hindu art. On the Vedic tradition, a banana grove is home to the monkey god Hanuman.

Descriptions of bananas are given in Greek writings on 327 BC in Indus Valley, during the expedition of Alexander the Great in India.

Most botanists believe that bananas were introduced from India to the Middle East and across North American by Arabs. Arabian traders introduced the banana plant into Africa a very early date, perhaps in the seventh century AD. The Portuguese along with the Spanish were instrumental in the worldwide spread of bananas and plantains especially to America.
Banana in India

History of sugar cane

The generic name Saccharum was given to sugar cane By Linnaeus in 1753. When the Arabs introduced sugar cane from India via Persia to the Middle East, the word became Sakkar or Sukkar. Possibly the first mention of ‘sugar’ as a commercial product occurs in95 AD in ‘Periplus Maris Erythraei’ (Guide Book to the Red Sea), where the quote ‘Exported commonly … honey reeds which called sakchar’ made by a merchant.

When the Greeks introduced it from Asia Minor it became known in ancient Greece as Sakchar or Sakcharon.

The first recorded use of sugar came leads is from New Guinea in 8000 BC. The peoples of the South Pacific Islands undertook long sea voyages and among the foods which they carried was sugar cane which was thus spread throughout the Pacific and from there to India and Southeast Asia.

Sugar cane

Cane sugar first achieved dominance on the subcontinent of India more that 2500 years ago, and it was in that country and China that commercial sugar was first produced from sugar cane. At about that time sugar cane was spread to Persia, Egypt and countries on the borders of the Mediterranean sea.

The Indian started processing and boiling cane to crystallize sugar around 300 AD and by 540 AD the Persian had learnt the art of sugar making.

It was not until the early eighteenth century, however, that sugar began to become widely used in Western Europe. Sugar cane was unknown in the New World until Columbus introduced it on his second voyage in 1493.
History of sugar cane

History of bael fruit

Beal fruit has been known in India since ancient times, and the tree on which it grows is regarded as sacred.  The history of this tree has been traced to Vedic period (2000 BC – 800 BC). The mention of bale fruit has been made in Yajurveda.

The tree has great mythological significance and abounds in the vicinity of temples. The leaves of the tree are traditionally used as sacred offering to Lord Siva, the God of health.

In the ‘Upavna Vinoda’, a Sanskrit treatise on silviculture and in the ‘Brihat Samhita’, mention was made of bael fruit. It has been said that this tree indicates the presence of underground water.

Three reaches about 40 feet in height and its fruit are generally about 2 to 5 inches across. The Portuguese called them marmelos because they gave the flavor of marmalade and can be eaten raw.

Garcia d’Orta who resided in India as physician to the Portuguese viceroy at Goa in the 16th century, wrote an account of the fruit under the name of Marmelos de Benguala, describing its use in dysentery.
History of bael fruit

Ancient history of cardamom

Cardamom, popularly known as the ‘Queen of Spices’ is the second most important spice crop in the world, next to black pepper, which is known as the ‘King of Spices’. It is the third most expensive spice in the world, after saffron and vanilla.

Cardamom has a history as old as the human race. The earliest reference to cardamom is from the ancient city of Nippur, Sumaira, dated 2000 BC, on a clay tablet. It indicates that ground cardamom was mixed with bread and added to soups.

It is mentioned in ancient Vedic texts by Theophrastus in the fourth century BC and later by Dioscorides in the 5th century BC.

According to Taitreya Samhita (3000Bc), in ancient Hindu culture, sacrificial fire was a common ritual and in ancient texts, cardamom was an ingredient, along with several other materials, the sacrificial fire, solemnizing a Hindu marriage.

Cardamom grew in the gardens of the King of Babylon in 720 BC. It was used as early as the 4th century BC by Indian Ayurvedic experts and by ancient Greeks and Romans. Spices were the symbols of royalty and luxury and cardamom was used in the manufacture of perfumes during Greek and Romans times.

The ancient Egyptians chewed cardamom seeds as a tooth cleaner. It was featured regularly in the ‘Arabian Nights’ for its aphrodisiac qualities and the ancient Indians regarded it as a cure for obesity.

Cardamom is believed to be a native of India. It was probably imported into Europe in 1214 AD. Viking explorers visiting what is now Turkey about one thousand years ago brought it back to Scandinavia where it still remains a popular spice.
Ancient history of cardamom

Mango in India

Mango cultivation probably originated in India, and it was estimated that mango cultivation to have began at least 4000 years ago.

This fruit is intimately associated with the history of India agriculture and civilization and it enjoys a royal status in the country when compared to the other growing places. Ancient Sanskrit literature described the mango as ‘king of fruits;. Ayurvedic medicine recognizes mangoes as an aphrodisiac and in some ancient n texts it is written that the ripe mango increases sexual energy and stamina.

The first group of people to spill the beans and initiate trade of the fruit were peripatetic Buddhist monks four or five centuries BC. A mango tree is depicted in friezes on the stupa of Bharut, which was constructed around 100 BC.

Available records indicate that the soldiers of Alexandra the Great has come across grove in Indus Valley. 

Traders and monks from India possibly introduced superior elections of mango into South-east Asia: however, vegetative propagation was unknown in India until after the arrival of the Portuguese in Goa in the 15th century.

During Mughal time, Akbar the Great paid the greatest tribute to mango who established an orchard of one lakh mango trees, designated as ‘Lakh-Bagh’ in Darbhanga in erstwhile Bihar State.

The mango tree and fruit are referred in the travelogues of ancient travelers including Huan tsang, Ibn Hankal and Ibn Batuta of which the Chinese traveler Huan-tsang is the first one to bring mango to the notice of the outside world during 632-645 AD.
Mango in India

Mango fruit in ancient times

History indicates that Indian mango cultivation is very ancient, of about 4000 years old. Ancient Indians value mango not merely for its sentiment or religious consideration, but they realized its importance in economic and cultural life of the society.

Fa-Hien and Sung-Yun mentioned in their travel notes that the Gautama Buddha was presented with a mango grove by Amradarika in 500 BC as a place for meditation.

The spread of Buddhism assisted in the distribution of mangoes in Southeastern Asia. Buddhist monks took mango plants on voyages to Malaya and eastern Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries BC.

According to German born botanist, Georg Eberhard Rumphius in his Het Amboinsche kruidboek or Herbarium Amboinense (1741), the mango was introduced into certain islands of the Indonesia archipelago within recent times; however, the mango was in cultivation in Java as early as early as AD 900-1100, when the temple at Borobudur was built and faced with carvings of the Buddha in contemplation under a mango tree.

Mangoes were carried to Africa during the 16th century and later found their way aboard Portuguese ships to Brazil in the 1700s.
Mango fruit in ancient times

History of curry dish in India

Definition of curry is any dish, wet or dry, flavored with curry powder – a ready-made mixture that generally includes turmeric, cumin seed, coriander seed, chilies and fenugreek.

Henry Yule and A.C Burnell, in Hobson-Jobson (1886) explained that ‘curry’ was a savory dish made up of ‘meat, fish, fruit or vegetables cooked with a quantity of bruised spices and turmeric’ served to flavor the two staple foods of the east – bread and rice.

The Tamil word ‘kari’ means a spiced sauce, one of the sorts of dressing taken in South India with rice and soupy in consistency.

The traditional South Indian ‘kari’ does not have a fixed set of ingredients, but a typical mixture was: curry leaf, coriander, cumin and mustard seeds; red and black pepper; fenugreek; turmeric; and less certainly cinnamon, cloves, cardamom.

Curries are an integral part of the cuisine of South-East Asia and Indonesia. As early as the third century BC, Indian traders and Buddhist missionaries brought tamarind, garlic, shallots, ginger, turmeric and pepper to the region.

The oldest indication of Indian curry was cited by Athenaeus from Megasthenes:
Among the Indians, at a banquet, a table is set before each individual and on the table is placed a golden dish on which they throw, first of all boiled rice and then they add many sorts of meat dressed after the India fashion.

According to the historians curry powder was invented in the 17th century as an export commodity for East India Company employees to take or send back to England. Normally curry dish mixture always freshly prepared in India. The British becoming accustomed to it and wishing to have it available in Britain, created commercial ready-mixed curry powder.
History of curry dish in India  

Brief history of mango

The wild mango originated in the foothills of the Himalayas in India and Burma. The first group of people to spill the beans and initiate trade of the fruit were peripatetic Buddhist monks four or five centuries BC.

The mango was cultivated in Java at least as early as AD 900-1100, when the temple at Borobudur was built and faced with carvings of the Buddha in contemplation under a mango tree.

The Chinese traveler Hwen Tsang, who visited India during the first half of the seventh century AD, brought the mango home with him to China.

One theory holds that mangoes first reached Africa by way of Persia in the tenth century. Traders from Portugal introduced mangoes to Brazil in the 1700s and to Barbados in 1742. From there, mangoes then began popping up all over the world.

The cultivation of the fruits began in Mogul, India, where the fruit is still considered sacred and is thought to have aphrodisiac effects. In the 16th century, a special technique employing grafting was developed for propagating the mango.

As early as the sixteenth century, the name ‘mangas’ was used for the mango in the Greek Work, ‘Colloquies on Simples and Drugs of India’. The earliest mentioned of mango tree, Mangifera indica, which means ‘the great fruit bearer’, is found in Hindu scriptures dating back to 4000 BC.

The mango is a member of the Anachardiaceae family which includes poison ivy, cashews, and pistachios. It is also known as manga, mangga, mangot, mangou, and mangue in other parts of the world.

The mango comes in over 50 varieties, ranging in color from greenish, yellowish, to reddish, often tinged with purple, pink, orange-yellow, or red.
Brief history of mango