Winston Churchill once observed that, “India is a merely geographical term. This is no more united a nation than the equator?” Flashing with heat, drowned by monsoons, from the airy peaks of its Himalayan north to the palm-shaded backwaters of Kerala at its southern tip, the Indian subcontinent is, indeed, formidably diverse. The second most populous country in the world, India’s people are similarly various: multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic. And nowhere is diversity played out more poignantly than on the subcontinent’s plate.

Of course, conceptions of Indian cuisine in the western world often suffer from the narrow emphasis on the meat-based northern Indian dishes that are on the menu in many curry restaurants. But these dishes – the Technicolor hues of the tikka masala and the oily bubble of the balti – are barely a spoonful of the story of Indian cuisine.

From the butter-rich Mughal-influenced cuisine from the north (often seen as Indian haute cuisine), to the preserves and delicate dhals of the desert states of Rajasthan and Gujarat and the lighter fish dishes from the western coastal states, India’s cuisines are many and magnificent.

Perhaps the gravest fiction perpetuated by the west’s Indian restaurants is their denial of the Indian mastery of the divinely balanced vegetarian dish. Although increased wealth has lead to a tendency for India’s majority Hindus to consume more meat (as do their Muslim and Christian cousins, notably lamb and chicken), it will always be a subplot in the glorious narrative of Indian cuisine. It’s rare to find a traveler to India who, after sinking their teeth into a crisp, freshly fried dosa or shoveling through a waistband-busting thali, (India’s ten-dish vegetarian lunch), misses meat a jot.

If India’s changing fortunes have told on its pantry shelves, it wouldn’t be the first time. Remnants of India’s colonial past – from the Portuguese to the Persians (and even the Brits) – can be discovered in every modern-day Indian kitchen, as amused travelers who’ve been offered a plate of neatly cut cucumber sandwiches will attest.

However, the basics of Indian food are rice and bread. Although rice is the staple starch for the vast majority of Indian people, in South India rice is cooked in a myriad of styles. Rice and dhal are the subcontinent’s bread and butter. In North Indian states, however, flatbreads are the classic staple.

Snack culture is of vital importance to a nation that lives through its streets. At road corners and train stops, snack-wallahs (vendors) ply their hissing, aromatic wares: samosas, bhajis, kebabs, crispy gram flour Pani-Puri (my all time favorite) or behl puri, with their bursting sweet tamarind and coriander fillings. The popular snacks of the southern state of Kerala – those made with rice flour (such as dosa and appam), and the rice-dumpling idli (served with a coconut sauce), have given the subcontinent its staple breakfast, which is typically taken by a stall, or in a bustling tea shop, from 5.30am.

Main meals will differ from region to region. Mughlai dishes derive from the cuisine of the ancient Indian Mughul emperors, who ruled the subcontinent in the 16th and 17th centuries. The cuisine, which is heavily influential in Delhi and much of the north of India, is literally ‘fit for kings’ – with a decadent use of rich almond and butter-based sauces, ginger-flavored roast meats and extravagant sweets (such as the rose-petal strewn kulfi).

Goa has a distinctive cuisine, marked by its coastal location, and the tastes of its former colonizers, the Portuguese. Dishes revolve around the staples of rice, fish and coconut – fish curry with rice being typical daily fare. The super-spicy vindaloo and sorpotel also hail from Goan shores.

The Parsi cuisine is a marriage of Persian and Gujarati styles (the Parsi people hailed from Persian Iran), and classics include chicken dhansak (served in a thick, spicy lentil sauce with ‘brown’ caramelized rice) and the somewhat surreal ‘per eedhu’, which translates literally as ‘eggs on’, the eggs being frilly and freshly fried. Another noble culinary tradition, Parsi curries are rich and typically flavored with nuts or apricot.

The people of Gujarati are known as the masters of vegetarian cuisine. Dubbed ‘the land of milk and butter’, yoghurt and buttermilk are the state’s staple protein sources, and their vegetarian thali is not to be missed. Served on a silver platter, the thali is an endless procession of vegetarian curries, pickles and crisp fried snacks. In more modest times, Gujaratis dine on khidichi, a simple lentil and rice mixture.

Biryani, a rich rice dish topped with flavorful fried spices, vegetables and perhaps meat (usually lamb) is the most distinctive dish in Hyderbadi cuisine, which is said to fuse the red-hot spice of Andhra Pradesh with Mughlai influences. Spices, ghee and dried fruits are used liberally.

When it comes to dessert, it is the Bengali cuisine that has bequeathed India a profound love of sweets. Bengal’s magnificent, colourful confections, based on curdled and burnt milk and cottage cheese, include the popular parwal (flavoured with Cardamom). Savoury dishes often seem sweet to the non-Bengali palate, and are spiked with panchphoron, a five-spice mix including fenugreek and mustard seed.