Lick Your Fingers Clean: Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson Offers Primer on Indian Food

Ian Anderson and prog/rock legends Jethro Tull are no strangers to India. The British multi-instrumentalist composer has been to India several times over the last few decades, both as a performer and a tourist. Back in the U.K., however, he keeps a part of India close to his heart and, if we understand correctly, to his stomach as well.

Anderson recently wrote in length about Indian cuisines, giving it the form and shape of a guide that’s informed by a life spent discovering and devouring Indian food in the country as well as in different parts of the world. “From New York to Brisbane, the robust delights of the Indian food revolution are now to be sampled and savoured,” he says in his post.

Known to cover a variety of topics, from travel to obituaries for beloved musicians, animals and of course, Tull-related memories, Anderson has specifically written “Guide to Choosing Indian Food” for those not so well-versed with the cuisine. He seeks out his audience and says, “If you are a novice in the ordering stakes and the roulette wheel of gastric disorder threatens, what to ask for? Where to pin-stick the carry-out menu?”

He notes that the guide has been spurred on by email and fan mail asking him about an ideal Indian meal at a restaurant for first-timers. As is the case with all of his writing, it’s informed by a fair bit of research. He notes, “There are currently around 8,000 Indian restaurants in the U.K. making one such eatery for every 6,000, or so, of our total population. Given the demographic and geographic realities of this fact, there is almost sure to be an Indian Restaurant in every British small town or large village of 2,000 or more inhabitants. Over two million people eat each week at Indian restaurants with another three million households cooking at home some form of Indian food, purchased at their local supermarket.”

The musician goes on to tell us that the Indian meal has “superseded” British favorites like Fish ‘n Chip and come to represent “the new (and some might suggest improved national dish of our once great land.”

Anderson goes on to methodically list out everything from the best beer accompaniment (Indian or British) to explaining the idea of a thali. He offers a run-through of all things spicy and mild, dry and saucy, plus the greatest hits of desi food, like chicken tikka masala, dosas and idlis, biryani and rogan josh. Without necessarily naming restaurants, there are anecdotes about unnecessarily spicy preparations. He says, “Your idea of a really hot curry may be quite at variance with mine. However, there is no point in indulging in the silly Macho tendency to consume the most incendiary plate on the planet.”

All in all, it’s an article that expresses respect and reverence in the quest for “curry heaven.” Anderson adds, “The good folks of Mother India know full well that the balancing of herbs, spices, chiles, vegetable, fish and fowl, appropriate to each individual dish, requires a delicate touch.”