Culture and Foods of India
The Two Go Hand-in-Hand!
The culture and foods of India go hand in hand. In India, eating food is not just an activity, it is an important social tradition. It’s true! People in India love to celebrate with their friends and family and enjoy using any appropriate opportunity to do so.
Family culture is extremely important to the Indian people, so eating meals as a family is an important social occasion where generations of the family gather, cook and eat traditional meals together. Most family social gatherings happen with little effort in India because it's common for generations of a family to live under one roof, or at least, very nearby one-another.
Another reason why the culture and foods of India inseparable is because food is included in most any festival, religious ritual or celebration. For example, gatherings at religious temples, like the Hindu dance celebration of Garba, often conclude with delicious Indian food being served to all participants in order to symbolize unity and a greater sense of a family.
Another example of a ritual where food is served is an Indian wedding, which by the way are a huge deal and often span three days! After a couple is hitched, the guests are served a traditional Indian meal; sometimes the guest count at a wedding in India can exceed 300 people! Holidays like Holi, the festival of color, include gathering, fun activities, and food. Garba, which means dance, is a huge celebration of high energy dancing to celebrate and honor Hindu gods. After people have danced and worked-up a Garba-sized appetite, food is served.
Food has been an important part of India’s culture since the days of the Indus Valley Civilizations, when people hunted and gathered for their villages and the culture and foods of India were inseparable when agriculture developed in early Indian villages like Harappa.
India is an enormous country and is likely to surpass China as the world’s most populated in the near future. The majority of Indian people are poor or live below what westerners consider middle-class. The sharing of food or ingredients of food and the activity of gathering to cook and eat together is something that all people in India can do, and it's something that some must do in order to survive.
Whatever reason you attribute the India food and culture going hand-inhand, you can always expect to expect a fantastic meal and experience rich, lively culture when invited to an Indian ceremony, celebration, or even when you are invited for dinner.
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