Julia Keay
The National Dish
Curry: A Biography
By Lizzie Collingham
Chatto & Windus 255pp £16.99
Described as ‘a history of the Indian subcontinent and its various rulers through a history of its food’, Curry: A Biography might more accurately be called Curry: A Travelogue. Sweeping through 2,000 years of history and swirling round the globe from Kerala and Kashmir to Java, Tonga, Birmingham and back again, it is the story of countless journeys made by countless largely anonymous travellers who carried, both to and from India, in their pockets, pouches, portmanteaux, gunny sacks and sea-chests, the essential elements of India’s cuisines.
Although derived from the Tamil kari, meaning ‘sauce’ or ‘relish’, the word ‘curry’ is rarely if ever used in India. In Britain it is applied indiscriminately to a multitude of quite different dishes, and all over the world it is instantly identified as ‘Indian food’. Yet many of its ingredients,
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm