Origins of North Indian and Pakistani foods

Potato (Aloo)

Tomato (Tamatar)

Okra (Bhindi)

Cauliflower (Phool Gobhi)

Taro (Arbi)

Most of the food items which define modern North Indian and Subcontinental cooking have origins inside the Indian subcontinent though many foods that are now a part of them are based on fruits and vegetables that originated outside the Indian subcontinent.

Vegetable origins

Vegetable	Hindi name	Tamil name	Telugu name	Kannada name	Origin	Likely time of introduction	Notes
Bitter Melon	karela	Paavarkai	Kaakara kaaya	Haagalu kaayi	Africa [1]
Cabbage	Patta Gobhi	Muṭṭaikkōs	Ele koosu		Possibly European	During colonial times [2]	Derived from Wild Mustard
Calabash	Lauki/Pankaj	Curaikkāy	Anapukaya,sorakaya	Sore kaayi	China/Japan [3]
Cauliflower	Phool Gobhi		kosu puvvu	Hoo kosu	Cyprus [4] [5]	1822 CE [6]
Chili pepper	Mirch	Miḷakāy	mirapakaya	Menasina kaayi	Mesoamerica [7]	1550 CE [7]	india
Coriander	Dhaniya	Kottamalli	kotthimeera	Kothamari soppu	North Africa [8] or Mediterranean	1000 AD [9] by Arabs	Mentioned in ancient Egypt
Brinjal	Baingan	Kattirikkāy	vankaya	Badane kaayi	India/China [10]
Fenugreek	Methi	Ventayam	menthi koora	Menthya	Near East [11]	326 BC [12]	Alexander's campaign to India
Garlic	Lahsoon	Pūṇṭu	Velluli/Elligadda	Belluli	possibly Middle East [13]	Unknown
Lemon	Neembú	Elumiccai	nimmakaya	Nimbe hannu	South China or Northeastern India [14]	2000-1000 BC [14]	Lemon seeds found in the Harappan Bara culture excavations indicate time of spread [14]
Moringa		Muruṅkai	Munakkaada	Nugge kaayi	India
Okra	Bhindi	Veṇṭaikkāy	Bendakaaya	Bende kaayi	Highlands of Ethiopia and india [15]	100-500 CE [15]
Onion	Pyaaz	Veṅkāyam	Ulligadda,ullipaya,erragadda	Eerulli	India [ citation needed ]	Unknown, but present by 500 BCE [16]	Mentioned in the Charaka Samhita
Potato	Aloo	Uruḷaikkiḻaṅku	Bangala Dumpa/Aloo Gadda	Aloo gadde	South America (Peru/Bolivia) [17]	1600 CE	Likely introduced by Portuguese traders
Sweet Potato	Shakarkand	Iṉippu uruḷaikkiḻaṅku	Chilagada dumpa	Sihi genasu	South America [18]	1600 CE)	Via Portugal
Taro	Arbi / Arwi/ Guhiyaan	Seppankizhangu	Chaamadumpa, chaamagadda	Unknown (India, Polynesia or SE Asia)	Unknown
Tomato	Tamatar	Takkāḷi	Tamata / rama phalam	Goode hannu	Latin America (Mexico to Peru) [19]	1600 CE	Likely introduced by Portuguese traders
Turnip	Shalgham	Ṭarṉip		Gedde kosu	West Asia or Eastern Europe [ citation needed ]	1500 BC	Very early presence in the South Asia
Yam	Zimikand/Suran/kachalu/banda	Karunai kizhangu	Kanda	Genasu	Africa/Asia [ citation needed ]	7000 BCE	Different types of yams by taste, colour, size, skin, acidity

Fruit origins

Fruit	Hindi Name	Telugu Name	Tamil Name	Origin	Likely time of introduction	Notes
Apple	Seb		Āppiḷ	Central Asia (Kazakhstan) [20]	Unknown
Mango	Aam	Mamidi Pandu	Māṅkaṉi	India	Unknown	Mango is mentioned by Hendrik van Rheede, the Dutch commander of the Malabar region in his 1678 book
Mulberry	Shehtoot/Toot		Malperi	China/Japan	Unknown	Its white type is toxic whereas red is very sweet
Orange	Santara [ citation needed ]	Kamalapandu	Ārañcu	India	Unknown	A sweeter Indian variety was introduced by the Portuguese in Europe (ca. 15th century)
Plum	Aloo Bokhara		Piḷam	Armenia	Unknown
Tamarind	Hunase Hannu/ Imli	Chintakaya/Chintapandu	Puḷi	Africa	Unknown	Known for savourish taste, the fruit has mention since Harappan times
Tangerine	Narangi	Narinja Pandu	Ṭēṅkariṉ	China	Unknown

See also

• India portal
• Pakistan portal

• Indian cuisine
• North Indian cuisine

References

1. Renner, Susanne S. (2020-10-06). "Bitter gourd from Africa expanded to Southeast Asia and was domesticated there: A new insight from parallel studies". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 117 (40): 24630–24631. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11724630R. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2014454117 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   7547224 . PMID   32994347.
2. Dabholkar, A. R. (2006). General Plant Breeding. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN   978-81-8069-242-0.
3. Erickson, David L.; Smith, Bruce D.; Clarke, Andrew C.; Sandweiss, Daniel H.; Tuross, Noreen (2005-12-20). "An Asian origin for a 10,000-year-old domesticated plant in the Americas". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 102 (51): 18315–18320. Bibcode:2005PNAS..10218315E. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0509279102 . PMC   1311910 . PMID   16352716.
4. Fenwick, G. Roger; Heaney, Robert K.; Mullin, W. John; VanEtten, Cecil H. (1983-01-01). "Glucosinolates and their breakdown products in food and food plants" . C R C Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 18 (2): 123–201. doi:10.1080/10408398209527361. ISSN   0099-0248. PMID   6337782.
5. "Cabbage Flowers for Food | Archives | Aggie Horticulture". aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
6. Gopalakrishnan, T. R. (2007). Vegetable Crops. New India Publishing. ISBN   978-81-89422-41-7.
7. 75 Exciting Vegetables For Your Garden, Jack E. Staub, Ellen Buchert, Gibbs Smith, 2005, pp. 126, ISBN   9781586852504, .India, hot peppers were dispersed by the earliest explorers to the Iberian Peninsula ... being cultivated in India by the sixteenth century, with three varieties growing in India by 1542 ...
8. Zohary, Daniel; Hopf, Maria (March 22, 2001). "Condiments and Dyes". Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The Origin and Spread of Cultivated Plants in West Asia, Europe, and the Nile Valley (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 172. ISBN   0198503571.
9. "Cuisine and Diplomacy". www.mea.gov.in. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
10. "Solanum melongena L. GRIN-Global". npgsweb.ars-grin.gov. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
11. Zohary, Daniel; Hopf, Maria; Weiss, Ehud (2012). Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The Origin and Spread of Domesticated Plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 122.
12. "Fennel, Fenugreek and Coriander: 3 Spices that You Thought Were Indian but Aren't". NDTV Food. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
13. Zohary, Daniel (2000). Domestication of plants in the old world : the origin and spread of cultivated plants in West Asia, Europe, and the Nile Valley (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 197. ISBN   978-0-19-850357-6.
14. Indian Archaeology in Retrospect: Protohistory, archaeology of the Harappan civilization, Shadaksharappa Settar, Ravi Korisettar, Indian Council of Historical Research, 2002, ISBN   978-81-7304-320-8, ... The only early archaeobotanical evidence for Citrus fruits comes from the Late Harappan (Bara phase) site of Sanghol in Punjab where seeds of lemon (C. limon (L.) Burm. f.) have been reported (Saraswat and Chanchala 1997). This is of great interest as these fruits are thought to have been domesticated somewhere in the area spanning from north-eastern India to south China and South-East Asia, although there remains no firm evidence for precisely where or when ... suggests that lemons diffused westwards, presumably along the Ganga Valley in the early second millennium BC. Further west, in South-West Asia, the citron (C. medical L.) occurs as early as c. 1200 BC, while the lemon arrives later in the first millennium AD ...
15. 75 Exciting Vegetables For Your Garden, Jack E. Staub, Ellen Buchert, Gibbs Smith, 2005, ISBN   9781586852504, ... Ancient varieties of okra can still be found growing wild from Ethiopia to the White Nile in Egypt, and this interesting food plant is believed to have originated in Ethiopia. In the absence of any ancient Indian names for it, modern botanists believe it found its way to India ... about AD 200 ...
16. 75 Exciting Vegetables For Your Garden, Jack E. Staub, Ellen Buchert, Gibbs Smith, 2005, pp. 84, ISBN   9781586852504, ... In India, as early as the sixth century BC, the famous herbal treatise Charaka-Sanhita celebrates the onion as good for the heart, the eyes, and the joints ...
17. "Finding rewrites the evolutionary history of the origin of potatoes". news.wisc.edu. 3 October 2005. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
18. Geneflow 2009. Bioversity International. ISBN   978-92-9043-813-7.
19. Smith, Andrew F. (1994). The tomato in America : early history, culture, and cookery. Internet Archive. Columbia, S.C. : University of South Carolina Press. ISBN   978-1-57003-000-0.
20. Duan, Naibin; Bai, Yang; Sun, Honghe; Wang, Nan; Ma, Yumin; Li, Mingjun; Wang, Xin; Jiao, Chen; Legall, Noah; Mao, Linyong; Wan, Sibao (August 2017). "Genome re-sequencing reveals the history of apple and supports a two-stage model for fruit enlargement". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 249. Bibcode:2017NatCo...8..249D. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00336-7. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   5557836 . PMID   28811498.

Further reading

• "Domestication of plants in the Old World," Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, Oxford University Press, 2000.
• "History of Food," Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Blackwell Publishing, 1994.
• "Culture and Cuisine: A Journey Through the History of Food," Jean François Revel, Doubleday, 1982.
• "The Agrarian History of England and Wales," Edward John T. Collins, Stuart Piggott, Joan Thirsk, Cambridge University Press, 1981.