India is a subcontinent

India is so huge it is called a subcontinent and like America, Europe, Africa, Asia or South America, it is made up of vastly different regions from mountains in the north to  the convergence of three seas in the far southern tip. My next few blogs on the geology and geography of India will help in understanding the connection of what is sustainable in that region to what is eaten based on the local produce and staple grains. You'll see why bread is a staple in the north where wheat is grown and why rice in the hot tropical south where it grows in rice paddies is the staff of life. I hope you will follow me around India. When you cook a recipe from Bengal you'll see why they are crazed about freshwater fish and rice and teeth-rotting dairy-based sweets. When you make a dish from the Punjab you'll see why wheat bread and buttery black lentils are favored, perhaps with sag-paneer (spinach cooked with cubes of fresh-made cheese). If someone wrote a book on American food and only wrote about Texas, we wouldn't know American food at all. Suffice to say if one wrote a book about one state in India we wouldn't get the full grasp of a great cuisine...