Eurovision: the word itself is enough to make some people run screaming for the nearest exit. Yet others (including some of us here at Delivery Hero) celebrate the song contest for the eurotrash bonanza that it is. We embrace the mash-up of traditional melodies and instruments, with kitsch pop cliches and hot new dance music trends (FYI this year it’s dubstep brostep).

Eurovision 2013: Skrillex has a lot to answer for.

In order to make it through the Eurovision marathon, you will need sustenance. So don’t forget to order some appetizers, pizza or even Thai takeaway to fortify yourselves for the onslaught. Of course, you may also need a drink or two to make it through the Eurovision 2013 Grand Final – screening on SBS on Sunday May 19 at 7:30 pm. If you’ve been strong-armed into watching the event, there are ways to enjoy the hilarity. Take a sip every time a contestant sings the word: love, dreams, fly, wings, etc. Every time a contestant winks at the camera, take a sip. For more drinking game tips, click here.

Let’s look at some of the trends this year. Breakdancers are still hot. So are acrobats. A live string ensemble never goes out of style. In terms of music, Skrillex has come to the attention of Eurovision song tacticians. Yes, that means that every second track has a bit of brostep in it.

Let’s check out a few contenders…

Montenegro just got knocked out in the first semi-final, but they warrant a mention for their entry “Igranka” by hip hop duo Who See. The video is a crazy visual mash-up that makes absolutely no sense!

Pred Da Se Razdeni (Before the Sunrise) is F.Y.R. Macedonia’s entry. It’s a duet sung by Lozano and Esma Redzepova Teodosievska, also known for her humanitarian work and is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.

The Ukraine’s entry “Gravity”, sung by Zlata Ognevicht is a soaring Disney-esque number. Trust me,  if there’s a new Lion King film on the cards anytime soon, this will be on the soundtrack!

Slovenia’s song “Straight into Love” is sung by Hannah. This track has a fat, brostep-intro and breakdown, and then leaps into a high-energy dance track. The neon pink lighting is edgy, capturing glimpses of the hot male breakdancers. Gay anthem? Check.

Getting away from the massive dance anthems and over the top ballads, is Malta’s entry “Tomorrow”. This irrepressibly catchy track is sung by Gianluca Bezzina.

While the bookies are backing Denmark, Norway and the Ukraine, speaking of dance anthems, we think Ireland could be in with a chance this year. And we also reckon Greece’s entry “Alcohol is Free” deserves an honourable mention.

No matter which way you look at it – whether you’re a die-hard Eurovision fan or an involuntary witness – the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final is going to be a long night. To make it through, we recommend ordering takeaway, stocking up on beverages and just sitting back and enjoying the spectacle.

What’s your plan for Sunday night? Any tips to make the night even funnier? Which country do you reckon will win?

By Louisa Peterson

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Pssst. You should all know by now that this Sunday is Mother’s Day. But really every day is a good day to appreciate your Mum! She’s the woman who brought you into the world and raised you as the upstanding human beings that you are. Seriously, we have a lot to be thankful for, including our love of food! For most of us that love began at an early age in Mum’s kitchen. Some of those food memories were kick-started with licking the bowl after the chocolate cake went into the oven!

Our love of food began like this. Photo by D Sharon Pruitt

Think about it for sec. Your Mum has cooked literally THOUSANDS of meals for you! She’s made you breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus birthday cakes and desserts! If that’s not worth celebrating, we don’t know what is! Mother’s Day is a time to show your Mum that you care. Hang up her apron, bring her a cup of tea and let her relax. Cook her a special meal or order a takeaway feast!

For this week’s post we asked a few heroes at Delivery Hero HQ to tell us their favourite dishes from their Mum’s kitchen. The answers are a multicultural melting pot of amazing flavours and amazing love. And even though some of us now live on the other side of the world, we still call our Mums for cooking tips!

What’s your Mum’s most memorable recipe, and what makes it so special?

- So many to choose from, but chicken curry with smoked eggplant is special to me, as it not only tastes absolutely delicious, but is a recipe that Mum and I have made together many times and then enjoyed eating it together as well (Tracy, Australia)

- Rissoles. Why? Because every week we could count on them tasting the same, which is to say Righteous! (Stew, Australia)

- Bobotie. To me it’s the epitome of comfort food and brings back memories of South Africa! (Jeff, South Africa)

- Egyptian Macaroni Bechamel! I love this dish because it is simple but so tasty! Also it is a dish that we usually share with family or friends, so it always reminds me of good times spent together (Alex, France)

- My Mum’s homemade Falafel. I have eaten Falafel all over the world (Germany, Australia, Lebanon etc) and no one can beat my Mum’s recipe. (Mo, Germany)

Home-made Falafel. Photo by treehouse1977.

How important was your Mum in teaching you how to cook?

- I think the special thing about it is that when she cooks I can see the love and care she takes to prepare it and of course it tastes awesome when she finishes it! (Joao, Brazil)

- I garnered significant experience of cooking from Mum, but more importantly than that, she taught me how to clean up afterwards! (Stew, Australia)

- Pretty important! Both my parents are good cooks, but she usually did the cooking at home. Too bad for her, I have always been lazy when it came to cooking, so I wasn’t the best apprentice… However, I am starting to catch up now, I hope I’ll make her proud! (Alex, France)

- Very important. Growing up in a big family my mum taught me how to take care of my siblings and to cook for the family when she was busy. This came to the advantage of my housemates during uni. I always had to cook for my housemates because they didn’t know what to do! (Mo, Germany)

Do you remember any funny food related stories?

- It’s funny how every time I’m organising a dinner party for my friends in Sydney, I would pick up one of her recipes straight away. And even if we have 8-hour time difference, I always make sure to call her to confirm how long I should put my quiche in the oven for! (Guillaume, France)

- After making tea, Mum once put the milk back in the cupboard with the pots and pans, instead of back in the fridge – the stench tipped us off a couple of days later (total senior’s moment). (Stew, Australia)

- We used to own an Italian restaurant back in Germany which was next to our house. Sometimes when we were hanging out late at night at home with the family and some of us got hungry, we just robbed every ingredient we could get from the restaurant and then made a big feast at home. That resulted in mixtures of Lebanese/Italian/German food creations. (Mo, Germany)

Home-made Quiche

What would you cook for Mother’s Day?

- Slow cooked red wine lamb shanks (Jeff, South Africa)

- We will be cooking my Mum duck confit for Mother’s day – her favourite! (Tilly, Australia)

- As a child it would be breakfast in bed. Now I try not to cook! (Tracy, Australia)

- Probably not a dish, but a cake! My mother has always had a sweet tooth, so I know that the best way to please her would be a nice dessert. Macaroons would be a good match… I need to learn how to bake them now! (Alex, France)

- I would probably choose something Australian to teach her a little bit about Australia. Maybe a meat pie or kangaroo burger followed by some homemade Anzac biscuits (Mo, Germany)

We’d love to know what your Mum’s most memorable recipe is and what makes it so special!

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Babaganoush – roast eggplant dip – with turkish bread is a picnic winner. Photo by jules:stonesoup

Sometimes you just don’t want to order big

You’re hanging out with your friends, enjoying the lovely afternoon and you’re feeling a bit peckish. But you’re not hungry enough to order a family-sized pizza and you really can’t be bothered cooking. What do you do?

Start at the top of the menu. Sometimes the answer is staring you right in the face! Remember appetizers and entrees? These tasty morsels go well with a boutique beer and better yet, they won’t break the bank. You can go as simple or as gourmet as you like. Entrees are great fun to order because you get to try a range of different flavours. We have a feeling this could be a secret trend, but if you haven’t tried it yet, here’s a challenge: for your next order, you’re only allowed to order entrees.

Take the appetizer challenge!

Every cuisine has it’s own delicious range of entrees. You just have to venture outside your comfort zone and make it your mission to try every single one!

So what are we talking about here? For starters, there’s the failsafe dips and Turkish bread option. Hummus, babaganoush, tabouli salad, olives and vine leaves. Delicious and completely snackable. Great for picnics in the park.

Ask yourself, how many different types of Japanese entrées have tried? Gyoza? Check. Agedashi tofu? Check. What about yakitori? Check. Edamame? Ok, if you haven’t tried steamed soybeans with salt, you really must. Oh but wait, there’s also tempura, karaage fried chicken, croquettes, or the lip-smackingly delicious soft-shell crab from Unoya in Sydney. But if you’re trying to avoid deep fried dishes, order a wakame salad and miso soup. Healthy AND tasty!

Edamame is a healthy snack that goes perfectly with beer. Photo by cyclonebill

Just thinking about Thai entrée’s make our mouths water. You can’t go wrong if you order one of every entree on the menu: Thai fish cakes, satay chicken, vegetable curry puffs, money bags, and don’t forget soups like Tom Yum Goong.

Chinese entrees are classics. Those prawn crackers take us back. Did your Mum ever rouse on you not to eat too many of those crispy treats? And what about pork wontons, prawn dim sims, and spring rolls? This is definitely an afternoon snack order.

Of course Indian starters are crowd pleasers too. Who doesn’t like pappadams and naan bread with a selection of dips?! And what about samosas and pakoras? Yum! Some places even do entrée platters so you don’t have to order everything individually. Make sure you check with the restaurant what kinds of combinations they offer.

We’d love to hear what you think. Have you ever only ordered entrees? If not, will you take the challenge?

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“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray you, love, remember” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet

While ANZAC Day is an occasion for remembrance and respect, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t without its lighter moments, and no Australian anniversary would be complete without lashings of laconic humour, a few games of two-up and a couple of beers. Balancing the serious side of things alongside a celebration of the freedoms that we enjoy is a perfect embodiment of everything that makes Australian culture so rich. One way to combine these two facets is by incorporating the symbolism of rosemary; sprigs of the aromatic herb are commonly worn on ANZAC Day as a marker of remembrance. By incorporating dishes made with rosemary you can pay a small sign of respect to the anniversary throughout the day.

There’s Something About Rosemary

Rosemarinus officinalis: rosemary; dew of the sea. So named because the herb can grow needing only the humidity carried by a sea breeze, rosemary is used as a symbol of remembrance and has long been thought of as a memory aid. Its strong scent and flavouring led rosemary to be used in a variety of dishes as stuffing and garnish. It works beautifully with meat, especially with roast lamb and chicken, and can also compliment fish dishes. Here are a few ways to incorporate rosemary into your ANZAC Day meals:

• Use rosemary as a seasoning for roast chicken: Combine a teaspoon each of dried rosemary, majoram, sage and thyme with 1/8 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 pepper, glaze the chicken with olive oil and then rub the seasoning over the top.
• The perfect match- Potato & Rosemary: This is a genuine Italian classic, made with tomato, mozzarella cheese, rosemary, sweet potato, parmesan cheese and grilled eggplant fillets. Yum!
• Use rosemary as a garnish to a roast lamb dinner: There’s nothing better than a traditional dinner of succulent roast lamb, crispy baked potatoes, steamed veggies and gravy – put it over the top by adding a sprig of rosemary to the mix.
• Add some flare to your BBQ: If you decide to have a BBQ on the day, you can really make your meat stand out by adding fried onions mixed with balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of dried rosemary and sea salt.
• Take mushrooms to the next level: Fry some mushrooms with rosemary, a teaspoon of truffle oil, fresh pine nuts and goat’s cheese – the flavour is amazing!

Have you incorporated rosemary into your ANZAC Day ritual? How do you plan to spend this April the 25th, and what will you be serving up throughout the day (apart from ANZAC biscuits!!). Share your experiences in the comments section; we’d love to hear from you!

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At Delivery Hero, we love food. Maybe sometimes a bit too much.

Last Friday we headed to Essen Restaurant and Beer Cafe for our weekly team lunch. Authentic northern European cuisine and beers are on the menu, but what seems to bring more attention is… the Jurassic Pork. Yes, you heard us.

The Jurassic Pork is 1.6kg loaf of bread, overflowing with juicy slow-cooked pork, coleslaw and BBQ sauce, finished off with a side of chips. The rules are pretty simple: contestants must finish the entire plate within 40 minutes – without the help of their mates – to get their meal for free! The proud of winning also comes with a commemorative Jurassic Pork T-shirt and the honour to have your photo placed on the Essen Wall of Fame.

The brave Dennis went for the challenge, supported by our cheering team.

Challenge accepted?

Let’s face it. The amount of carbs is pretty filling and  the amount of sauce needed to soften the pork is quite impressive. Our fellow Dennis did a pretty good job at eating the meat but the bread let him down. Not surprising when only 7 people completed the challenge while 67 made it to the Wall of Shame!

Come on Dennis, you’ll do better next time!

Feeling like you can compete the Jurassic Pork challenge? Head to Essen Restaurant & Beer Cafe on Broadway then! And if you’re more into indulging at home with their delightful northern Europe food, order your dinner with Delivery Hero! Schnitzels, pork belly, veal, soups and tasty breads are just a few clicks away!

What is the most craziest food challenge you went through?

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What’s not to like? Seriously. Have you ever met anyone who didn’t like pizza? This humble dish has been around for centuries. That’s right: centuries mate. And not just in Italy – in ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt flatbread with toppings were all the rage. Simple, quick food. It’s said that soldiers of Darius the Great (521-486 B.C.) baked a kind of flat bread on their shields and covered it with cheese and dates.

A little later the ancient Romans got in on the action, topping their flat, round dough with olive oil, herbs and honey. This ancient version of pizza had a bit of a makeover in the 16th Century after tomatoes made their way to Europe from Latin America.

In Naples in the 1700s, street food for the poor consisted of flatbread with different toppings like tomatoes, cheese, oil, garlic and anchovies.

That’s Queen Margherita of Italy. Yep, you guessed it, the Margherita pizza was named after her.

So where did the Magherita pizza get its name? King Umberto I and Queen Margherita visited Naples in 1889. According to urban legend they were bored as batshit with their usual diet of fancy French food and requested a selection of pizzas. The queen took a shine to a pizza topped with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, and from then on this combo was called the Margherita.

While pizza was huge in Naples the rest of the world was pretty slow to catch on until Italian immigrants travelled to the United States and started tossing pizza dough in their new home. In the late 19th and 20th Century pizzerias began opening in Brooklyn and the Bronx in New York.

From there the rest really is history. Pizza’s popularity grew, not just across the United States, but to over 60 countries around the world. These days you can find those delicious traditional recipes alongside gourmet combinations of awesomeness.

You KNOW what we’re talking about!

At Delivery Hero we have a soft-spot for pizza and we’re stoked that we can share the best places with you!

Here are a few of our top tips:

Red Horn Pizza in Rockdale has been rocking the region with their mind-blowing gourmet pizzas for years. Try the Mediterranean lamb pizza with slow roasted marinated lamb, fresh capsicum, spanish onions, tomatoes, Feta, oregano, topped with mint yoghurt & wedge of lemon, on a garlic and olive oil base. Or how about the char-grilled eggplant pizza with mushrooms, Spanish onions, fire-roasted capsicum, baby spinach, Kalamata olives & brie topped with fresh herbs on their home style eggplant relish. Save room for a honey dessert pizza topped with fresh banana, grated orange zest sprinkled with icing sugar. That’s a party in your mouth.

For an entertaining pizza experience, head to Elvis Pizza in Rushcutters Bay. Let Elvis serenade you as you chow down on a Viva Las Vegas pizza with chicken breast, mushroom, capsicum, onion, BBQ sauce & cheese, or a Kentucky Rain pizza topped with tomato, bocconcini, roast pumpkin, potato & fresh rosemary. FYI: rumour has it their ribs are to die for.

Vinni’s Cafe Pizza & Pasta in Glenroy serves up those traditional classics like the aforementioned Margherita, Napolitana, Marinara and Cappricciosa. In addition to pizza, they also whip up a mean Carbonara pasta and Chicken Parmigiana. You know you’re in good hands because  Mum’s the boss in this kitchen and this place is all about the love.

What crazy pizza toppings have you tried that totally work? or are you a hardcore traditionalist? Send us your tips or give a shout out to your favourite pizza place!

By Louisa Peterson

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According to futurist Thomas Frey, within 10 years we could be ordering takeaway via our TV remote control. See an ad for pizza? Press a button and it’s on it’s way. Pizza delivery boys and cardboard boxes will be replaced by stainless steel robots. And more importantly, what about the food itself? Will pizza survive in the future? Here are our predictions for the future of takeaway.

The future of food delivery

Remember the Tacocopter? So disappointing. But another team is on the case. Using open source designs, Darwin Aerospace in the US, have created the “Burrito Bomber” – a remote controlled plane, that will drop your burrito safely into your hands via parachute.

So where’s the catch? Of course it’s the old red-tape. The  Burrito Bomber still has to get the all-clear from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States. BUT under the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 they have to make regulations for commercial use drones by September 2015. What’s a couple of years?!

No more cardboard boxes

Whether they’re plastic, styrofoam or cardboard, takeaway food containers are a big waste problem. While some groups are making takeaway food containers out of products like cornstarch and plant materials that can be composted or eaten, others have taken a different approach. In the USA, 3 billion cardboard pizza boxes are thrown away every year and in most places, cardboard that’s been contaminated by food can’t by recycled, only composted. Good News Reuse™ is a North American company founded in 2010 with the aim to reduce waste in the food and beverage industry. They came up with the first ever reusable pizza box, called the Pi Pan, made from light stainless steel. (Handy Hint: it will also double as a shield in the zombie apocalypse).

Spacefood sticks or petri dishes?

Will we be chowing down on space food or synthetic meat from the lab? Speaking of 3D printing, the new buzzword is ‘bioprinting’ and some scientists are working on printing food.  Scientists at Cornell University have been 3D printing chocolate, not a bad place to start really. Futurist Thomas Fray predicts that printing full meals aren’t far off – which makes us think of the Fifth Element or Back to the Future? While scientists are in the lab, molecular chef, Homaro Cantu, has been working in the kitchen to sustainable food that will blow your tastebuds!

By Louisa Peterson

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In a few short years, the wide-spread perception of chefs has gone from that of a stressed-out cook yelling at lackeys in a boiling kitchen to a 3-hat genius balancing photo-shoots, soufflés and interviews. From Julia Child’s revolutionary ‘The French Chef’ series in the 1960’s, through to cult shows like Iron Chef and prominent television personalities such as Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, we’ve long been fascinated by the wizards of the kitchen, yet the past 5 years has seen an unprecedented explosion in the popularity of these culinary champions.
We’ve also seen a shift in the focus, which has now widened to include not only professionals in the culinary arts but also amateurs. We’ve come a long way from the traditional “meat and 3-veg”, but have we taken the fine-cooking movement too far?

The Rise of the Foodie

You know the type; they’re the ones sitting at that popular new café with iPhones snapping every dish on the menu, micro-blogging about how the sea-salt encrusted bacon on home-made rye with heirloom Haas avocado mash is the best thing to happen to Darlinghurst since Clover Moore was re-elected.

They are capital-F “Foodies”, and they are changing the way that we view food. Once we had to rely on Terry Durack doing the rounds before we knew if a restaurant was worth a visit; nowadays we can jump on any one of a thousand home-grown blogs to find out. This independent trend has also spilled over into kitchens all over the world, where DIY chefs cook everything from uber-extravagant five-star cuisine through to traditional recipes made with a twist. These days it’s rare to be at a party and not meet at least one person who writes a food blog, and this has forced everyone else to raise their standards, creating a new social status of ‘foodie elite’. Dinner parties are now part social-mixer and part display of talent; gone are the days of laying down some cheese and a stack of Jatz. Inviting friends over for dinner has become an opportunity to shop for exotic ingredients, dive deep into the cookbooks and behave like a MasterChef contestant, which leads us to the next point…

The MasterChef Effect

The rise of cooking competitions like MasterChef has turned next-door neighbors into suburban Wolfgang Puck’s overnight. Take Poh Ling Yeow from MasterChef Australia’s first season, for example. After being selected from over 7,000 applicants Poh made it into the final round before losing out to winner Julie Goodwin. The loss didn’t hold Poh back, however, and she soon signed a deal with the ABC to do a cooking series (Poh’s Kitchen) and publish cook books. Poh epitomizes the dream of being plucked from obscurity and becoming a much-loved celebrity and her story provides inspiration for hundreds-of-thousands of amateur chefs around the country. The MasterChef Effect doesn’t stop there; MasterChef and similar shows like My Kitchen Rules are boosting revenues across the entire Australian food industry as people rush to buy greater quantities of exotic ingredients and dine out at the best new restaurants. In 2010 Coles supermarkets reported a 1400% spike in sales of ‘unusual’ ingredients, and restaurateurs, caterers, importers of gourmet ingredients and cook-book publishers are all seeing the benefits of our fascination with food.

Is Cooking Becoming the New Business Card?

The rise of the celebrity chef and famous foodie has changed the way that Australian’s eat. While it has opened up our taste buds to a galaxy of new flavours and textures, it has also added an edge of competition around everything from the humble sandy to a 5-course meal. These days keeping up-to-date about the finest ingredients, new restaurants, the best food blogs and food fads has become a symbol of status – almost like a business card. If we put too much pressure on having to keep up with the Joneses then we may lose our love of food altogether, so it’s important to remember that no matter whether you’re shaving black truffles onto a confit of exotic mushrooms or lying back with a container of sweet & sour pork, the important thing is to enjoy it!

What do you think about the MasterChef effect and the increased competition in the kitchen? Do you think it’s good to have higher standards for food or do you think that we’re creating unattainable standards? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section; we’d love to hear your opinion!

by Jacob E. Dawson

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Easter is all about the chocolate. And the buns. Hot-cross buns obviously. Every year it’s the same. We’d almost rate Easter over Christmas in terms of the chocolate haul, but if truth be told, it can get a little boring.  Yet there are a few food bloggers out there doing some inspired things with those Easter essentials.

Here are our top 3 Easter hacks.

Easter Bunny Bark

Ok, so we didn’t know what bark had to do with chocolate either, but when we saw Teresa from Blooming on Bainbridge’s pictures of her Easter Bunny Bark, we almost started drooling. And we asked ourselves the question: why has no-one ever thought of this before? Remember all those Easters when you were a kid? While us adults (might) go a little easier on the chocolate these days, this recipe makes us want to get our friends to pool their chocolate hauls to make this treat. You’ll need a bunch of chocolate for the base – depending on the size of your tin – or how much you want to make, get 500 grams of white, milk, or dark chocolate. Grab the rest of your chocolate stash and chop it all up CHUNKY – bunnies, eggs, M&Ms – the lot. Line a tray with baking paper, melt the chocolate for the base in a bowl, pour it into the tray and then throw all the chopped up Easter chocolate bits on top. Pop your colourful chaotic mess in the fridge for half an hour and once it’s hardened, take it out and cut it into pieces.

Hot cross bun pudding with chocolate and orange

So if you have some old English blood in your family, you might be familiar with bread and butter pudding. It’s a super easy dessert recipe using milk and old bread (and it’s great if you’re a little low on cash, but craving something sweet). Samantha Linsell from Drizzle and Dip has come up with a gourmet Easter-inspired bread and butter pudding recipe incorporating hot cross buns, Swiss chocolate, orange zest and a dash of brandy. This is one pudding recipe that will leave you craving hot cross buns year-round!

Crème Egg Cheesecake

So the Cadbury crème egg has spawned a range of recipe hacks and can be found in everything from brownies to cupcakes, but Jemma from Iced jems has come up with something special: the Crème Egg Cheesecake. Crush chocolate digestive biscuits for the base and then get yourself two packets of mini chocolate eggs in the cake. Roughly chop one packet of eggs and mix them into the cheese cake mixture, and then put it in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes. In the meantime melt 200 grams of milk chocolate and once the cheesecake has set, pour this over the top and then put the rest of the mini cream eggs over the top of the cake. Have you ever seen a more decadent cheesecake?

What do you do with your Easter bunny haul? Do you scoff the lot? Or do you have a secret Easter hack to share with us?

By Louisa Peterson

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The mighty curry has been gracing takeaway menus for decades now. Butter Chicken, Tandoori and Vindaloo are all mouth-watering terms that have come to represent Indian cuisine in the wider world. But there’s a deeper and more multi-layered history behind the intricate blend of ingredients that make up the much-loved curry.

At Delivery Hero we’re passionate about food, and so we’ve delved into the rich past of Indian cuisine to find out what separates a Biryani from a Dose, discover if it was actually the Brits that introduced curry to Indian cuisine, and give you a rundown of the best Indian restaurants in the town. Let’s explore further… 

Traversing the Four Corners

India is a huge country which is the second most populous in the world. It’s no surprise then that there’s a tremendous amount of diversity in language, culture and of course food that reflects its vast size. Send four people to each corner of the Indian subcontinent and most likely they’ll return with four rather varying descriptions of Indian cuisine. Language and culture of course account for some differences in cooking techniques, but the differing crops that are grown in each region also play a large part. For example, in the north wheat is the basis of many of the local breads such as chapatti and roti, while in the south rice is the main crop and so is a staple of the cuisine. Geographical influences play a part too with North Indian cuisine making heavy use of lamb and goat meat as well as Arabic staples such as onion, tomato and garlic, while in South Indian cuisine their proximity to the sea has filled the dishes with fresh seafood. East Indian cuisine bears a strong Chinese and Mongolian influence, while to the West the hot, dry climate has created a culture of preserving fruit and vegetables as pickles and chutney.

A typical dish from North India (Goat Curry from The King of Taste)

Some Like it Hot

One common misconception about Indian food is that much of it is overwhelmingly spicy. Yet the reality is that actually spices do not necessarily make for hot food. Although Indian curries can be made to sizzle long after it’s brought off the flame, there are many more mild options that bring with them subtle flavours and textures that even the most sensitive of tongues can handle. Take, for example, a Dal Makhani (black lentil and cream soup) or a Shahi Paneer (cheese, tomato and cream gravy). These dishes are built upon a foundation of smooth cream, with the flavours blending together to create ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ moments that make you realise there is so much more to explore than simply taking the roof of your mouth off!

Davinder Bedi, chef and restaurateur at Bedis in Melbourne, has been serving up authentic Indian cuisine since 1983. When asked about what makes Indian cuisine so special, Bedi shared: “Indian food is the expression of spices, tastes, culture, taboos, beliefs, traditions, religions and regions.” Known for creating perfect traditional recipes alongside adding his own flavour to classic dishes, Bedi is the creator of the world-famous Chicken Butter Cream, which involves marinating the chicken and smoking it in a tandoori oven before being finished off with a secret recipe curry.

Bread cooking in a traditional oven (Bedis)

So – Did The British Invent Curry?

Controversially, rumour has it that it was actually the British that invented curry. This stems from when British traders first travelled to the subcontinent and were intrigued by the rich assortment of foods that the locals cooked. When they asked with intense curiosity about the simmering pots of exotic sauces, they were told simply that the food was kari. The word itself is actually the Tamil word for sauce, but it didn’t take long for word to spread about the Indian people and their delicious curry, and a culinary legend was born. Although the British colonists eventually demanded hybrid curries to be made with ingredients that weren’t so foreign to their delicate English palates, it’s a falsehood that the British invented the cuisine. More likely they were just curry enthusiasts! There’s evidence that curry was actually being made and eaten as far back as 2500BC, which gives us an idea of just how long the Indian people have had to perfect the flavours.

Continuing this tradition The King of Taste Indian restaurant in Perth’s West Leederville bring their own flair to Indian cuisine with flavours and aromas that are, in their words, “robust, exciting and truly unique….bringing an air of elegance and sophistication to the Indian restaurant scene in the area”.

For the taste of India at home check out our restaurant partners in your area to discover this most perfected and timeless of cuisines.
by Jacob E. Dawson

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