Vol. 45 — Spice, Tiffin and the Endless Indian Table
India
From Delhi to Kerala
Standfirst
Cumin seeds cracking in hot ghee. A dosa spread thin across a blackened griddle. Chai poured back and forth until it froths. India does not cook one cuisine — it cooks a hundred, and every one of them begins with a scent.
Chapter One
The tadka, and everything that follows
Almost every Indian dish begins the same way: fat heated until it shimmers, then whole spices dropped in — cumin, mustard seed, curry leaf, dried chilli — for the few seconds it takes them to crackle and perfume the room. Tadka is not a step in a recipe so much as a signal that cooking has begun.
What comes after it changes completely with geography. In the north, wheat, dairy and slow-simmered gravies: dal makhani, butter chicken, paratha pulled off the tawa. In the south, rice and coconut, tamarind and sesame oil: dosa, idli, sambar, Malabar fish curry bright with kokum.
There is no Indian dish. There are a thousand kitchens, and they all know each other.
— On the Indian table
Chapter Two
Street corners, tiffin tins and the thali
The Indian street is its own restaurant: vada pav wrapped in newspaper in Mumbai, pani puri cracked open and swallowed whole, kathi rolls turned on a Kolkata griddle, chaat assembled in seconds with tamarind, yoghurt and a snowfall of sev.
At midday, dabbawalas still carry home-cooked tiffin across Mumbai with almost impossible precision. And at every table, the thali does the same work in miniature — rice, dal, sabzi, pickle, curd and roti arranged in one round steel argument for balance.
The India poster — biryani, dosa, chai, jalebi and thali drawn as one illustrated composition.
Chapter Three
Kitchen, wardrobe and wall
Pieces for people who keep whole spices in the cupboard, order one more plate of chaat, and drink their chai far too hot.
Poster — Delhi
Tee — Mumbai
Tote — Chennai
Vol. 45 — Spice, Tiffin and the Endless Indian Table — the pieces
Shop the India pieces
Everything photographed in this issue that is currently in the studio.
India · Apron
India Food Apron
Price loading
India · Baby onesie
India Food Baby Onesie Black
Price loading
India · Blanket
India Food Blanket
Price loading
India · Food poster
India Food Poster Black
Price loading
India · Sweatshirt
India Food Sweatshirt
Price loading
India · T-shirt
India Food T-Shirt
Price loading
India · Tote bag
India Food Tote Bag
Price loading
India · Kids poster
India Fun Explorer Kids Poster Black
Price loading
The Collection
The India Collection
Biryani, masala dosa, butter chicken, chai and gulab jamun — the layered heart of the Indian table in one illustrated composition.
Keep exploring
Gifts & celebrations
Where India belongs
Read next
Related Guides
- Read the guide
Styling
Kitchen Wall Art Ideas
Kitchen wall art ideas that last: how to choose illustrated food posters, style them for minimalist, Mediterranean, colourful or neutral kitchens, and pick the right size.
- Read the guide
Styling
Living Room Wall Decor Ideas
Living room wall decor ideas from real interiors: art above a sideboard or sofa, gallery walls that grow, leaning frames, evening light and planning a layout before you hang.
- Read the guide
Gift Guides
Housewarming Gift Ideas for People Who Love to Cook
Housewarming gifts for a kitchen rather than a house — what actually gets used, what gets kept, and how to choose a gift when you have never seen the new place.
- Read the guide
Styling
How to Style a Kitchen Gallery Wall
A practical guide to hanging art in a kitchen — heights, spacing, frames, steam, and how to mix countries without the wall turning into clutter.