The Pondicherry Kitchen

The coastal town of Pondicherry has seen the influence of a host of cultures, and it’s not surprising that its cuisine reflects this history. A fragrant potpourri of flavours, primarily from the Tamilian kitchen and—resulting from three hundred years of occupation by those universally acknowledged gourmands—the French, the food here also reflects eclectic borrowings from Indian , Moghul, French, Portuguese and Malaysian cooking. In The Pondicherry Kitchen, Lourdes Tirouvanziam-Louis captures the unique culinary heritage of the town. Several years of research—digging out old recipes, collecting the culinary secrets of senior people, sourcing foodlore that has been transmitted orally through generations— have coalesced in this book, and the delicious recipes in it. Spiced with anecdotes that give an insight into the culture, The Pondicherry Kitchen is a wonderful, easy-tofollow cookbook.