Food in India — what to eat, what to avoid and how spicy it really is

Food is often what people fear most before a first trip to India — and what they remember most warmly afterwards. Both are true. Indian cooking can be one of the great pleasures of the journey, and also the source of a few unpleasant days if you approach it unprepared.

Below, concretely: how hot the food really is, what to order, what to leave alone, and how to eat so that you spend your evenings on the ghats rather than in your hotel room.

Is it safe to eat in India?

Yes — widely, and with pleasure. The overwhelming majority of stomach problems come not from spices but from water, ice and unwashed hands. That is good news, because those three things are entirely within your control.

Hot spices do not cause food poisoning. They can irritate the stomach of someone used to milder cooking, but that is discomfort, not illness. The real risk sits with food that has been standing in the heat, produce rinsed in tap water, and ice of unknown origin.

How spicy Indian food really is

Less than the legend suggests — and more than a "curry" from a chain restaurant back home would lead you to expect.

The key thing to understand is that heat is not built into a dish; it is decided while cooking it. The same curry can be mild or fierce depending on how much chilli goes in. In places used to foreign guests this is an entirely ordinary request and will surprise nobody.

Two phrases cover it:

• "Mild, please" — the safe default for your first few days.
• "Not spicy" — when you genuinely cannot handle chilli.

It is also worth knowing that the intensity of Indian cooking comes mainly from aromatic spices — cardamom, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, turmeric — rather than from heat. A dish can be deeply flavoured and completely mild. That is why dal makhani and korma taste rich without burning.

What you should try

Dishes you will meet on routes through northern India, and a good starting point for anyone beginning from zero:

Then the breads: naan (wheat, from the tandoor), roti or chapati (thinner, wholemeal) and paratha (layered, often stuffed). In India you eat with them — bread does the work of cutlery.

North versus south — two different cuisines

"Indian food" is roughly as useful a shorthand as "European food". Regional differences are enormous, and one division matters most to a traveller:

The north — wheat, dairy, the tandoor

Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra, Varanasi. The staple is bread, not rice: naan, roti, paratha. Plenty of dairy — butter, cream, paneer, yoghurt. Dishes tend to be thick and creamy, cooked in a tandoor oven. This is the cuisine best known in Europe, because butter chicken and tikka masala come from here.

The south — rice, coconut, lighter and hotter

Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Hampi. The staple is rice in every form — including ground into flour for dosa crepes and idli cakes. More coconut milk, curry leaves and seafood; less dairy. Dishes are often hotter than in the north yet lighter. In Goa there is a clear Portuguese influence, which is where vindaloo comes from.

If your route takes in Goa or Hampi, treat it as two separate culinary adventures rather than one.

Vegetarians and vegans

If you do not eat meat, India is probably the easiest country in the world to travel. A large share of the population eats meat-free every day, so vegetarian dishes are not a niche on the menu but its mainstream. Nobody will be surprised, and nobody will offer you a side salad as a main course.

Labelling makes it simpler still:

• A green square with a dot — vegetarian.
• A brown or red square — contains meat.

Vegans have it slightly harder, because northern cooking rests on dairy — ghee, cream, yoghurt and paneer. It helps to learn to ask for dishes without ghee and to lean towards southern cooking, which is naturally built on coconut milk. On an organised trip the simplest route is to tell us in advance; restaurants along the way are then briefed before the group arrives.

What to avoid

• Tap water — including for brushing your teeth. Bottled only, seal checked.
• Ice — usually made from the same water. Safe enough in good hotels, best skipped elsewhere.
• Raw salads and vegetables — they were rinsed; the question is in what.
• Pre-cut fruit from a stall — buy it whole and peel it yourself.
• Anything that has been standing, particularly in the heat. Food should be hot.
• Buffets with unclear turnover — if you cannot tell how long dishes have been out, order from the menu.

More on the health side, including the medical kit worth carrying, is in our guide to vaccinations and a travel medical kit.

Where to eat — hotel, restaurant or street stall

Three levels, each with its moment:

• The hotel — safest and dullest. Good for the first days while you acclimatise, and for breakfast.
• A restaurant — the sweet spot, and where you will eat best. Pick places full of customers; high turnover is the best freshness indicator there is.
• A street stall — the most interesting and the one that asks for judgement. One rule: the food should be made in front of you and reach the plate straight off the heat. A stall with a queue of locals is safer than an empty one.

On our trips that choice is not left to you. Restaurants along the route are vetted in advance, and for street food you are with someone who knows the specific stalls — which is why the Delhi Street Food Tour is a scheduled item in Pearls of North India and Nepal and India, rather than an improvisation.

What to do if it does happen

It happens even to the careful. What matters is reacting calmly and in the right order:

1. Rehydrate. This is the priority — in heat, dehydration is more dangerous than the illness itself. Oral rehydration salts work better than water alone.
2. Skip food for a few hours, then return gently: rice, banana, toast, plain roti.
3. Anti-diarrhoeal medication from your own kit, as needed.
4. Tell your tour leader. There is nothing awkward about it, and the sooner they know, the easier it is to adjust the day or arrange a doctor.
5. Seek help if symptoms last more than a day, or if there is fever or blood. Private healthcare in India is good and quickly available — that is what the insurance is for.

Drinks, tea and alcohol

Masala chai is less a drink than an institution. Black tea boiled with milk, ginger, cardamom and sugar, sold everywhere for pennies in small cups. Drink it often — it is boiled, therefore safe, and it is one of the most Indian experiences available at zero risk.

• Lassi — a yoghurt drink, sweet or salted. It helps after a hot dish. Choose decent places, since it is dairy.
• Fresh juices — excellent, but only where you can see the fruit being peeled in front of you, with no ice or added water.
• Alcohol — available, but not everywhere. Several states have restrictions or prohibition, and many restaurants have no licence. Hotels are generally fine. This is not a country where wine with dinner is a given.

What food costs in India

Very little — one of the more pleasant surprises of the trip. A meal in a good restaurant on a tourist route typically costs a few euros, and street snacks a fraction of that. Tea from a street stall is close to free.

On our programmes breakfasts are included, while lunches and dinners outside the programme are yours — the full budget breakdown is in our guide to what a trip to India costs. In practice food is one of the smallest items in the whole budget, so there is no reason to economise on it.

Frequently asked questions