Science digs into Indian food's delicious flavor

[Robin Garr]

I thought this article was fascinating, but of course I love Indian food.

Scientists have figured out what makes Indian food so delicious
Researchers have data crunched 2,500 recipes and found the secret to their success.
By Roberto A. Ferdman
March 3, 2015

Indian food, with its hodgepodge of ingredients and intoxicating aromas, is coveted around the world. The labor-intensive cuisine and its mix of spices is more often than not a revelation for those who sit down to eat it for the first time. Heavy doses of cardamom, cayenne, tamarind and other flavors can overwhelm an unfamiliar palate. Together, they help form the pillars of what tastes so good to so many people.

But behind the appeal of Indian food — what makes it so novel and so delicious — is also a stranger and subtler truth. In a large new analysis of more than 2,000 popular recipes, data scientists have discovered perhaps the key reason why Indian food tastes so unique: It does something radical with flavors, something very different from what we tend to do in the United States and the rest of Western culture. And it does it at the molecular level.

Full article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/won ... delicious/

Interesting data approach.

[Jenise]

Interesting about the overlaps, and lack of. It really makes perfect sense--cooking at the level I do, I already get that the most contrasts on the plate, the more interesting the meal. Pretty much the opposite of my grandmother's midwestern cooking.