The Global Love Affair With Indian Food

Indian cuisine’s global standing is no accident. It reflects centuries of regional knowledge, community traditions, and a relationship with food that goes far beyond taste.

TasteAtlas’ 2025/26 rankings, which place Indian cuisine 13th worldwide with a strong 4.43 score, offer a useful lens to explore why Indian food continues to command global attention.

For travellers, food is often the entry point into India’s cultural complexity.

For those who grew up with it, these flavours carry memory, identity, and emotion.

We look at how India’s regional diversity shapes its cuisine and why specific dishes and techniques continue to resonate globally.

A Cuisine Shaped by Culture

India’s food culture cannot be reduced to a single flavour profile or cooking style.

Geography dictates ingredients, climate shapes preservation techniques, and religion influences what is eaten and how it is prepared. The result is a cuisine that feels endlessly renewable.

In North India, wheat dominates daily meals.

Tandoors remain central to cooking, producing naan, roti, and kulcha with distinct textures and smoky depth. Rich gravies often rely on tomatoes, onions, dairy, and warming spices, creating dishes designed to be eaten communally.

Butter garlic naan, which scored an impressive 4.7 on TasteAtlas, captures this approach perfectly. Soft, indulgent, and aromatic, it is designed to mop up robust curries rather than stand alone.

Amritsari kulcha, also scoring 4.7, reflects Punjab’s agrarian roots and love of hearty food. Stuffed with spiced potatoes and herbs, then cooked until crisp, it balances texture with comfort. Traditionally served with chole and tangy pickles, it shows how North Indian food often layers richness with acidity.

Move south and the culinary rhythm changes.

Rice replaces wheat, fermentation becomes essential, and meals feel lighter yet deeply spiced.

Parotta, rated 4.6, is a prime example. Its flaky layers require skill and patience, and it is often paired with meat or vegetable curries that soak into every fold.

Though simple in ingredients, its preparation reflects the technical precision found across South Indian cooking.

Eastern India contributes a quieter sophistication. Desserts take centre stage, with an emphasis on milk, jaggery, and rice.

Meanwhile, the West offers sharp contrasts. Coastal regions lean into seafood and coconut, while inland areas like Gujarat champion vegetarian snacks and steamed dishes.

Muthia, scoring 4.6, exemplifies this balance. Steamed rather than fried, it reflects a tradition that values restraint, flavour, and nutrition without sacrificing satisfaction.

Across all regions, food remains deeply woven into daily routines. From street stalls serving fresh snacks to celebratory home-cooked meals, eating is social, habitual, and emotional.

Why Indian Flavours continue to Travel Well

TasteAtlas’ recognition of Indian cuisine sits within a wider global appetite for bold, layered flavours.

Indian food’s adaptability is key to its international success. Core techniques and spice blends travel easily, even when ingredients change.

Garam masala, rated 4.6, is central to this story. Not a dish but a concept, it represents balance rather than heat. Typically added towards the end of cooking, it enhances aroma without overpowering a dish.

Every household has its own version, reinforcing the idea that Indian cuisine values intuition as much as precision.

This flexibility helps Indian food thrive abroad.

Restaurants can adapt dishes to local tastes while retaining their essential character. That balance has allowed Indian cuisine to build loyal global followings without becoming static or diluted.

The comparison with Italian cuisine, which topped the TasteAtlas list with a 4.64 score, is revealing rather than diminishing.

Italian food is celebrated for restraint, quality ingredients, and technical clarity.

Indian cuisine, by contrast, is expansive and expressive.

Where Italian cooking often strips back, Indian cooking layers forward. Both approaches reward craft and tradition, which explains their global appeal.

Indian food’s strength also lies in its emotional accessibility.

For Indian food lovers, these dishes are anchors of identity. For outsiders, they offer warmth, generosity, and depth.

The growing interest in regional Indian cooking, rather than generic restaurant fare, suggests global audiences are ready to engage more deeply with its diversity.

Indian cuisine’s place among the world’s best reflects consistency.

Its foundations remain rooted in region, season, and community, even as chefs reinterpret classics for modern audiences. Rankings may shift, but the reasons people fall in love with Indian food remain unchanged.

From fermented batters in the south to tandoor-fired breads in the north, from delicate eastern desserts to western street snacks, Indian cuisine rewards curiosity.

It offers comfort without monotony and complexity without pretension.

For Indians, it is home on a plate. For the rest of the world, it is an invitation to explore.

As long as food remains central to Indian daily life, its global relevance will endure.

Not because it chases validation, but because it continues to honour where it comes from while welcoming those willing to taste, learn, and return for more.