Why does indian cooking use so much spice ?
Probably too complex a question for Yahoo Answers. Books could be written on the subject. But probably what it comes down to, if we could drill right down through history, would be the convergence in India of trade routes from spice-producing areas, the tendency of seafaring vessels (which docked in India on their way between Europe and the far east) to use a lot of salt that covers the flavour of meat, and the unavailability of fresh meat. All of this produces a situation where old bad salty meat needs covering up with spice to make it taste edible. After a while, even after the meat becomes fresh and tasty, people just get used to the taste of the spices.
