Vegetarian food, chai and mangoes
Vegetarian and Jain food, Indian tea and the mango season.
A large part of India eats vegetarian, which makes Indian cooking one of the richest in the world for anyone who avoids meat. Jains also avoid root vegetables such as onion, garlic and potato; sattvic food, known from yoga and ayurveda, leaves out onion and garlic as well. In Indian restaurants you can simply ask for this. In Dutch shops, watch for gelatine, rennet in cheese and egg in baked goods.
Chai is black tea boiled with milk, sugar and spices such as cardamom, ginger and cloves. India is one of the world's largest tea producers; Assam, Darjeeling and Nilgiri are the best-known regions.
Indian mangoes such as Alphonso and Kesar are available only briefly, roughly from April to June. Indian shops then sell them by the box. Not sure what an ingredient is called in Dutch? Use the ingredient translator under 'Handy tools'.
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Useful links
- Tea Board of India teaboard.gov.in
About Indian tea and its regions. - Vegetariërsbond vegetariers.nl
Practical information on vegetarian food in the Netherlands (in Dutch).