Street View Street Food
Biryani
History
The exact origin of the dish is uncertain. In North
India, different varieties of biryani developed in
the Muslim centers of Delhi, Luck now and other
small principalities. In South India, where rice
is more widely used as a staple food, several
distinct varieties of biryani emerged from
Telangana (specifically Hyderabad), Tamil Nadu,
Kerala (Malabar), and Karnataka, where minority
Muslim communities were present. Andhra is
the only region of South India that does not have
many native varieties of biryani.
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Culture
According to Pratibha Karan, the biryani is of
South Indian origin, derived from pilaf varieties
brought to the Indian subcontinent by the Arab
traders. She speculates that the pulao was an
army dish in medieval India. The armies, unable
to cook elaborate meals, would prepare a one-
pot dish where they cooked rice with whichever
meat was available. Over time, the dish became
biryani due to different methods of cooking, with
the distinction between “pulao” and “biryani”
being arbitrary.