{"id":4684,"date":"2024-12-19T10:07:43","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T15:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/?p=4684"},"modified":"2024-12-19T10:07:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T15:07:18","slug":"is-indian-food-the-worlds-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/is-indian-food-the-worlds-best\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Indian food the world\u2019s best?"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>From my latest Bloomberg column:<\/p>\n<ul> Why is the food so good? I have several overlapping hypotheses, most of them coming from my background as an economist. Interestingly, India\u2019s culinary advantages can be traced to some good and some not-so-good aspects of Indian society.<\/p>\n<p>    First, food supply chains here are typically very short. Trucking, refrigeration and other aspects of modernity are widespread, but a lot of supply chains are left over from a time when those were luxuries. So if you are eating a vegetable, there is a good chance it came from nearby. That usually means it is more fresh and tastes better.<\/p>\n<p>    The sad truth is that India still has very high rates of food spoilage, especially when food is transported longer distances. The country is making significant progress building out its transportation networks, but in the meantime the American culinary tourist enjoys the best of all worlds: Our purchasing power is high, and we can spend our money eating super-local.<\/ul>\n<p>And:<\/p>\n<ul>    India also has high income inequality. That means there is plenty of cheap labor competing to cook for diners with higher incomes. The \u201cthickness\u201d of the competition leads to innovation and experimentation \u2014 there are a lot of restaurants, food stalls, truck stops and the like. It is a buyer\u2019s market. Furthermore, some of India\u2019s best dishes, such as Bengali sweets, are very labor-intensive. Indian desserts that are mediocre in US restaurants receive the proper care and attention in Kolkata.<\/ul>\n<p>And:<\/p>\n<ul>    Then there is the cultural side. India is a \u201cfood nation.\u201d When I ask locals which are the best places to eat, which I regularly do, I am repeatedly struck by how many have strong opinions. When everyone is a food critic, standards rise accordingly. It also makes it easy for the visitor to get quality recommendations.<\/ul>\n<p>There are further good arguments at the link.  In Bangalore I had a superb meal, Kayasth food, by Manu Chandra in Lupa, this was a special menu:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/marginalrevolution.com\/marginalrevolution\/2024\/12\/is-indian-food-the-worlds-best.html\">Is Indian food the world\u2019s best?<\/p>\n<p><em>Originally posted on Marginal Revolution<\/em> &#8211; click to see full post, links, comments and suggestions.<\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class='related_post_title'>Related Posts:<\/h3><ul class='related_post'><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/mumbai-central\/\" title=\"Mumbai Central\">Mumbai Central<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/the-curious-surge-of-productivity-in-u-s-restaurants\/\" title=\"The Curious Surge of Productivity in U.S. Restaurants\">The Curious Surge of Productivity in U.S. Restaurants<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/bengaluru-cafe\/\" title=\"Bengaluru Cafe\">Bengaluru Cafe<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/why-do-the-servers-always-want-to-take-our-cutlery-and-plates-and-glasses-away\/\" title=\"Why do the servers always want to take our cutlery and plates and glasses away?\">Why do the servers always want to take our cutlery and plates and glasses away?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/rules-for-tri-state-italian-food\/\" title=\"Rules for Tri-State Italian food\">Rules for Tri-State Italian food<\/a><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From my latest Bloomberg column: Why is the food so good? I have several overlapping hypotheses, most of them coming from my background as an economist. Interestingly, India\u2019s culinary advantages can be traced to some good and some not-so-good aspects &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/is-indian-food-the-worlds-best\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[329,1961],"class_list":["post-4684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indian","tag-indian-2","tag-marginal-revolution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4685,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684\/revisions\/4685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}