Feature image courtesy: Cookidoo

In a world of cheese pulls and fusion sushi, it’s easy to forget that India’s food story didn’t begin with Instagram reels. Long before social media trends and modern borders, dishes were being served on banana leaves, in earthen pots, or on the silver thalis of royal courts.

These are not just recipes. They are living pieces of history, carrying the flavours of dynasties, trade routes, and humble hearths. Here’s a look at five Indian dishes that have been delighting people for centuries.

Where: Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh

Soft, fluffy, and universally loved, idli (steamed rice-and-lentil cakes) is far from a modern invention. The earliest reference to an idli-like dish appears in a 10th-century Kannada text called Vaddaradhane. The original version used only urad dal, but over time, the rice-and-lentil fermented combination we know today evolved.

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