In search of a high cuisine

The kingdoms of times past had 'high cuisines' composed of refined and exclusive dishes created by highly skilled cooks using ingredients and techniques from a multitude of regions. Unfortunately, not much is left of such grand dining in Southasia. There are indeed countless regional and ethnic cuisines, from Newari to Malabari to the newly popularised dishes of royal India. These are a delight to explore, but a true high cuisine needs to be different from daily fare in the quality of the ingredients and in the sophistication of the techniques employed in preparation.

It has been argued that a high cuisine only exists in societies that are very stratified. Southasian societies are as stratified as societies can be, but they still lack such a cuisine. I would suggest that it may in fact be the extreme level of stratification that explains this absence. While it is common for Southasia's educated and professional classes to employ cooks at home, the overwhelming majority of such cooks receive no formal education or training. They prepare a limited range of dishes that they learned in their own homes or under the instruction of their employers. The elites depend on their cooks for their daily meals, and are used to eating whatever these cooks set on the table. The convenience of having somebody prepare their meals seems to have significantly more weight than the householder's interest in cultivating their own tastes and their employee's skills. This means that the elites end up eating pretty much the same food as everybody else.