A Study of Food in India » Thali, Naan, Tandoori & More » Greg Goodman: Photographic Storytelling

The majority of the food we encounter in India is vegetarian, delicious and spicy.

Parotta, omelette and sauces on a banana leaf in Kanyakumari, India

In nicer restaurants, it is traditional to order a rice or two and then some form of veg dish: lentils, chick peas, potatoes and other beans are quite popular.

Next, you order either a roti (row-tee), chapati (cha-pah-tee), naan (non), parotta (par-oh-ta) or paratha (par-ah-thuh), all of which are essentially tortillas with varying degrees and thicknesses of dough and different methods of preparing.

Finally, when it is all on the table you tear off some bread and, using only your right hand, create a mix of food and shovel it into your mouth. There’s something extremely satisfying about eating with your hands.

Butter Chicken and garlic naan in Rishikesh, India

Thali … the perfect plate of Indian Food

This is the thali I ate while gazing at the Taj Mahal in Agra, India

A thali is made up of a selection of various dishes. It simply means “a round platter used to serve food.”

The idea behind a Thali is to offer all the 6 different flavors of sweet, salt, bitter, sour, astringent and spicy on one single plate. According to Indian food serving customs, a proper meal should be a perfect balance of all these 6 flavors. A fruit is often served at the end of meal.¹

Our favorite thalis usually come on a big platter with 2-3 veggie dishes, some curd, a pile of rice, sometimes a bit of fruit and some chapatis.

This entire plate of food is very filling, delicious and usually costs around $1. Often times you will get free refills on whatever you want as long as you keep buying chapatis.

Some restaurants have many different types of thalis to choose from

A plate of Indian food in Pounducherry — We got all this food plus 2 water bottles for 90rs (less than $2) in Pounducherry

Tandoori Dishes

Tandoori dishes are also quite popular, though generally far more expensive so we tend to steer clear of the restaurants serving this Indian food. We do branch out often and try the local dishes, but there are far too many of them to list. My personal favorite was the Mongolian chicken.

Beef is just as hard to find as you would imagine it would be in a country where the cow is sacred. Mutton, lamb and chicken, however, are very common and quite good. So don’t wait any longer … go to India and chow down!