Grain, fat and spice change every few hundred kilometres: wheat to rice, ghee to mustard oil to coconut oil, and heat that ranges from black pepper to Guntur chilli.
Regional kitchens
Awadhi
Lucknow: slow-cooked dum and kebabs.
Bengali
Mustard oil, river fish, a course order that ends in sweet.
Chettinad
Tamil Nadu: roasted spice blends and heat.
Hyderabadi
Biryani, haleem, sour notes from tamarind.
Kashmiri Wazwan
A multi-course banquet cooked by wazas.
Malabar
Coconut, seafood and Arab-influenced baking.
Rajasthani
Built for scarce water: dals, dried greens, ghee.
Naga
Smoked meats, bamboo shoot, fermented flavours.
Gujarati
A vegetarian thali balancing sweet, salt and heat.
Goan
Portuguese-influenced vinegar, pork and coconut.
Bihari
Litti chokha, sattu, mustard and river fish.
Parsi
Persian-Gujarati: dhansak, patra ni machhi, eggs on everything.
Street food cities
Delhi
Chaat, parathas, kebabs.
Mumbai
Vada pav, pav bhaji, bhelpuri.
Kolkata
Kathi rolls, phuchka, telebhaja.
Amritsar
Kulcha, fried fish, lassi.
Indore
Sarafa Bazar at night, Chappan Dukan by day.
Lucknow
Kebabs, kulcha, sheermal.
Ahmedabad
Manek Chowk after dark.
Hyderabad
Irani chai, osmania biscuits, haleem in Ramzan.
Sweets by region
Bengal
Sandesh, rosogolla, nolen gur in winter.
Uttar Pradesh
Peda, imarti, malaiyo in Varanasi winters.
Maharashtra
Puran poli, modak at Ganesh Chaturthi.
Rajasthan
Ghevar, mawa kachori.
Tamil Nadu
Mysore pak, adhirasam.
Kerala
Payasam, halwa from Kozhikode.
Drinks
Masala chai
Boiled with milk, ginger and spice.
Filter coffee
South Indian decoction with hot milk.
Lassi
Sweet or salted yoghurt, thickest in Punjab.
Thandai
Milk with nuts and spice, drunk at Holi.
Feni
Goan spirit from cashew or coconut.
The spice trail
Kerala
Cardamom and pepper in the Western Ghats.
Pampore, Kashmir
Saffron fields, harvested in autumn.
Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
One of India's major chilli markets.