Introduction

The importance of spices and herbs in cooking cannot be reiterated enough in cooking. Every cuisine has its own set of combinations and progression. For the matter, not only are combinations limited to cuisines but subdivides itself within each style of cooking. A good example of the same would be the Sambhar Masala mix and the Garam Masala mix from India and different kinds of Curry Pastes from Thailand or different kinds of Tomato Sauces used by Italian Chefs.

In any gastronomy book we see synonymous recipes. The author leaves the opportunity with the reader to choose the best possible solution depending on the equipment available, character of ingredients, dexterity of the chef and last but the most important ‘the season’. Every recipe should be treated as a documented piece of advice. The interpretation of the advice depends on the experience (https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/experience) of the reader. The different interpretations of the same recipe is the chef’s signature.

The use of herbs and spices are widely divided. The north of the Mediterranean Sea, uses more of herbs than spices. On the contrary, we see abundant use of spices south of the sea. Before the seafarers from Europe travelled to different parts of the planet (to colonize in the name of trade and decimate and enslave local population) a magnificent volume of ingredients that we take for granted today as European, would not be a part of the cuisine. Examples of such are, tomatoes, eggplant, coffee, chocolate, vanilla…… so on. It is even said that the concept of pasta making was taken to Europe by Marco Polo, after he visited China. Similarly, the Nizam of Hyderabad, hosted a lot of English men of The East India Company, as a result the royal chefs tailored the recipes according to the tastes of their European guests. As people migrated from place to place, moved ingredients by trade or accident and tested traditional recipes with local ingredients in different parts of the world new styles and versions of cuisines started to take shape, as the influence on Portugal on the food and culture of Goa and Pondicherry.

Even today that evolution continues with chefs like Rick Stein (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Stein), Anthony Bourdain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bourdain) and Gordon Ramsay (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Ramsay) travelling through extensive areas of South-East Asia, learning and adapting classical recipes according their own tastes. We see similar variations in restaurants like Ken Kawasaki(https://www.restaurantkenkawasaki.fr/en/) and Takao Takano (http://www.takaotakano.com/).

In the culinary world today, lot of chefs are working to incorporate new ingredients in traditional recipes as new markets open up for farmers. In some parts of the world we are experiencing a revolution to return to organic and heirloom produce. As the world has seen dangerous increase in the use of pesticides and antibiotics, raising serious concerns about the health of the producer and the consumer. It must also be noted that many imported and genetically modified varieties are proving to be unsustainable, so are modern methods of single variety crops and factory farming. It is noticeable that heirloom varieties are locally sustainable, less stressful on the environment, carries more nutritious value and has better taste.