Coconut Grove

Book excerpt: Food as the essence of sustenance for human beings has evolved over civilizations. Today each country has its distinct cuisine and within countries, there are diverse culinary delicacies that are steeped in history. India with its vast cultural vicissitudes has many specific food habits, some of which have been handed down generations, giving each state their unique identity. Karnataka is indeed a cultural potpourri of people who have inherited various culinary practices through civilizations and many of the delicacies have ingrained recipes based on the local availability of various ingredients. Spices are also another salient feature of Indian cooking practices and no state or region is an exception to the use of spices local and general in throwing up mouth-watering dishes with distinct local flavours In this book the author shares her recipes she grew up on, with little personal anecdotes woven into it, and explains how entwined our lives are with food. It is coastal cuisine with distinct flavours that are part of Mangaluruean cuisine. They are simplified for you to embrace it, making it a part of your dinner table wherever you come from, whatever your heritage.