INDIA. FOOD AVAILABILITY AND SELECTION

INDIA
Food Availability and Selection

India is an extremely vast country. Before independence it consisted of about 600 semi-independent kingdoms, ruled over by Hindu’s and Muslims under British supervision, as well as large tracts of land ruled directly by the British, land that the British had divided, as and when they acquired it, into governable provinces. There were about 15 major languages spoken across the land as well as 1,652 minor languages and dialects and the people belonged to at least 15 major faiths.

With independence, the princely kingdoms merged into one country, India. When the Indian Government began the task of dividing this huge land into states, they did it upon a linguistic basis. Each area with a major language and culture was given it’s own state. The idea of forcing a common language has been tossed many times. The people do not want it as they are proud of their separate cultures. Many have traditions as well as poetry and literature that go...