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 back thousands of years and they are not about to give that up. This is true of foods as well, which are different from one state to the next.
India is in that sense very similar to Europe, with each state rather like each European nation, having not only it's own language, culture and foods, but it's own history, it's own unique geography and it's own set of dominant religions. The feature that link all the states is that they all have the same central government. The entire country was influenced by Muslim rule which began around the 11th Century and later by British colonisation. And, where foods are concerned, the whole country has in common the total command over spices and seasonings.
India's cuisine is as rich and diverse as her people. The spectrum of Indian cuisine can be said to lie between two dietary extremes: vegetarianism and meat eating.
India is well known for it's tradition of vegetarianism which has a history spanning more than two millennia. However, this was not always the case.
