Curries and Chillies: Tracing the Deep Links Between Thai and Indian Cuisine
Thai and Indian cuisines share surprising similarities, from fragrant curry pastes to the central role of rice. New scholarship and expert insights illuminate long histories, botanical roots, and migratory paths that connect kitchens across the subcontinent and Southeast Asia. For Thai readers, these connections reinforce cultural pride while showing how global exchanges shape national identity and soft power in an interconnected world.
Thai cuisine’s appeal to Indian diners goes beyond flavor. Both traditions layer spices, rely on fresh herbs, and feature curry as a central concept—known in Thai as kaeng and in Indian languages as kari. Thai curry paste blends lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves with dry spices and coconut milk, an influence more pronounced in southern Indian cooking that underscores maritime trade and historical movement linking regions over centuries.