History of indian cooking (RE: Etymology: sambar, the dish?)

[Geeta Bharathan]

Yashwant Malaiya wrote:
>
> Geeta Bharathan's  note remined me of something.
>
> I've never seen anything on the history of Indian cooking. Are
> there any resources? Is there a theory of Indian cooking? I know
> about the six rasas (but I'm not sure I know exact definitions).

Achaya has two books, one is a history of Indian cooking, and the other
a dictionary. The result is a very tantalizing one, for there is a lot
of information, interesting insights, but I, at least, got the feeling
that it did not make for a very coherent whole. There's lots of
interesting tidbits there, but there's plenty more to be done, I feel
(e.g., he does not address questions of etymology (eg sambar).

--Geeta