Culture

Why 'Indian Food' Is the Wrong Menu Category

Restaurant taxonomy flattens regions — and what diners lose when everything becomes curry.

  • identity
  • restaurant
  • language

'Indian restaurant' on a map often means Punjabi-North Indian defaults, sometimes with a dosa page added later. Tamil, Bengali, Sindhi, and Nepali cuisines get folded into a single icon. Diners learn to ask wrong questions.