How Colonialism Influenced South Asian Cuisines
Words by Nashwa Ansari
Welcome to the Brown History Newsletter. If you’re enjoying this labour of love, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your contribution would help pay the writers and illustrators and support this weekly publication. If you like to submit a writing piece, please send me a pitch by email at brownhistory1947@gmail.com. Check out our Shop and our Podcast. You can also follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
How Colonialism Influenced South Asian Cuisines by Nashwa Ansari
The juxtaposition of food colonialism is comical at best. Whether it’s the fact that some of the most staple South Asian ingredients such as tomatoes or potatoes were introduced to the region by colonizers, or that ‘curry’ is one of the most popular foods in modern Britain; there is no doubt the exchange of culinary values and habits is a marvel, with both sides proving to have a lasting effect. According to historian Mary Procida, a British Army wife once caught another “squatting on the sofa demolishing a plate of curry and rice! The curry was obviously fiery with chilies… realizing that she had been caught enjoying the very stuff for which she and her group exhibited such disdain; stuff that ‘the servants eat, and which never appeared on her table’ – the wretched woman uttered a shriek of dismay and fled from the room!”
European colonial occupation caused dramatic shifts in the food habits of South Asians, the region experienced its food and the agriculture changing permanently as a result of widespread colonization. South Asia experienced almost three centuries of colonization mostly at the hands of European nations. It was these violent processes of colonization that used food as a foundational tool to alter the lives of those that had been colonized. Food practices are fundamental to the evolution of populations, and there is a crucial thread that ties food practices to the identities of the colonized. The political use of food as a means to colonize is often an ignored consequence of the entire experience, but when examined closely it is clear how deeply engrained colonial food practices are within the South Asian food of today. The Western European nations of Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, France, and Holland made up the majority of the colonization of South Asian nations, fighting violent sea-wars to invade spice-producing colonies. The two nations that transferred the most significant number of cultural values to the region were Great Britain and Portugal, altering the future of South Asian food and agricultural practices.
When we think of colonialism, the first thing that inevitably comes to mind is the British Empire, at its height at the beginning of the 20th century, it sprawled across six continents, and at the heart of its colonization was India. Initially it was spices that lured the British to India, the Portuguese and Dutch had already started to monopolize the riches of Asia, and soon Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to merchants in order to form a trading corporation. In 1601, they set sail for modern-day Indonesia, where the merchants discovered that the local inhabitants were not interested in British goods but would exchange their treasured spices for Indian textiles. Eventually, India became one of the most important hubs of colonization, this led to an exchange of food and agricultural practices that would endure the test of time. The British introduced crops such as oranges, cauliflower, spinach, and cabbage which made their way into Indian kitchens and cuisines.