Despite the differences, spice is fundamental to all Indian cooking.

NPR: Indian Food: Eating in Technicolor

It is lighter, relatively spicy thanks to a generous dose of chiles and influenced by Indian and Spanish cooking.

ECONOMIST: A brief history of chile cuisine

With the world economy and stock markets working against them, we saw great results over several years from the merger of two centuries-old tobacco companies in Europe (Altadis), an Indian soap-and-cooking-oils maker that has become of the world's leading software services providers (Wipro) and a for-profit school system that owns an incredibly successful dot.com (Apollo Group).

FORBES: Magazine Article

As a result, many people equate Punjabi dishes with Indian food in general, when Punjabi cooking is really just one example of India's diverse cuisines.

NPR: Indian Food: Eating in Technicolor

Indian recipes assume a similarly deep knowledge of cooking, although they splendidly combine brevity with the sort of florid touches that David admired.

ECONOMIST: What cookbooks really teach us

Food in Indian restaurants, however, remains more homogeneous than home cooking.

NPR: Indian Food: Eating in Technicolor

Tourists gently haggling with good natured shopkeepers over the price of pashminas rub shoulders with Qatari and Indian families buying everything from traditional garments to giant pots used for cooking traditional lamb dishes.

BBC: Souq Waqif, Doha��s resilient, labyrinthine market

Italian pasta and Indian rice are sold alongside milk powder from Dubai and reminders of recent aid dependency in the form of cooking oil from the World Food Programme.

ECONOMIST: Surprising Somalia