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Spices lie at the heart of Indian
cuisine. Through spices India became a trading partner of the West, first with the Sumerians, then the
Phoenicians and in turn the Greeks (probably helped by Alexander the Great's foray into India around 320 BC) and Romans. The fertile slopes of the Western Ghats still produce an astonishing variety of
spices; black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon,
cloves, garlic, turmeric and nutmeg.
 Over the centuries the aromatic profits to be gained from this trade brought quinqueremes from Nineveh, dhows from Arabia, Galleys from ancient Rome, junks from china, Caravels from Portugal and frigates from England to the palm-fringed
Malabar Coast. Wars erupted over the spice trade, fortunes were won and lost, emprises dreamed up and evaporated, and explorations undertaken in its pursuit
(Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus and Vasco Da
Gama, amongst others). Pound for pound the value of most spices far exceeded that of gold.
 The earliest use for spices was medicinal and some remnants of prescriptive attitudes can still be traced in Indian culinary theory today, although the ancient injunction to include all six
rasas or flavors - sweet, salty, bitter,
astringent, sour and pungent, in every meal in strict proportion has now largely disappeared. Nevertheless food was and is believed to influence behaviors (a concept only now gaining acceptance in the West) and spices have historically fulfilled a valuable function not only as flavorings, but also as appetite stimulators and
digestives (they may also help the body to cope with heat during the long, enervating summers).
In general however spices are used to enhance flavor, not to mask it, and they are employed with consummate skill in the manner of the artist using the colors on his palette to produce depths, shadows, hints and highlights. Such subtleties may be initially lost on the untutored palate of many westerners, but understanding and appreciation will quickly dawn.
If spices are the hallmark of Indian cooking, the greatness of its cuisine lies in its regional foods and regional menus. For the visitor, finding these local variations is easier said than done. Most prestige hotels in India's four major centers -
Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai - possess fine restaurants that serve a mainly northern Indian cuisine and cater for the exotic whims of local trade by providing Chinese, Italian and Indonesian menus. Thus you are more likely to experience good local cooking in provincial capitals than in the pleasure domes of the main conurbations - unless of course you venture out to
discover the vernacular culture and taste of India.
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