Describing ceviche as “raw fish cooked in citrus juice and spices” is a bit like describing the Taj Mahal as a marble building. Technically correct, but missing the point. Because ceviche, which is enjoyed throughout South America but is especially revered in Peru (they actually celebrate National Ceviche Day on June 28) is almost magical. It uses super-fresh fish, and the citrus marination, barely 30 minutes, breaks down the fish’s proteins, giving the raw meat a cooked flavor but retaining its delicate flavor. Good ceviche usually has a crunch: raw red onion, cilantro, roasted corn, and creamy avocado or sweet potato, all cut in such a way that every bite balances texture and flavor.
Around the world, ceviche (and Peruvian cuisine) has been a phenomenon. However, in India, it is hard to find outside luxury-hotel restaurants and multi-cuisine menus. It’s the same with the food of Georgia, Ghana and other West African countries, Russia and the Philippines – cuisines that are currently being modernized and celebrated around the world, but that is not happening in India.
Who is stopping them? The recipe changes every time. To keep an eye.
distant relations
With Peruvian food, the world is literally on its way. The country is halfway around the world; Therefore, importing bulk material via sea route may take up to 50 days. This means that Peru’s famous potatoes – there are 4,000 varieties of them – and dozens of varieties of corn are impossible to transport cheaply. Indian potatoes are bred to have a long shelf life and a neutral potato-vegetable consistency, but cannot absorb the spicy Huancaña cheese sauce.
Mumbai-based foodie Roxanne Bambot dined at Lima, London’s first Michelin-starred Peruvian restaurant, in 2015. She was excited when an outpost opened in Mumbai in 2016. Disappointment immediately set in: Peru’s diverse produce was missing from the menu. “For restaurants already working within tight margins, flying ingredients in over 24+ hours is often economically uneconomical,” she says. Diners were not impressed by anything new, and Lima soon closed up shop.
In countries close to India, “the main issue is not cost, but inconsistent availability of specific ingredients,” says Kalyan Kar, who runs the Kolkata restaurant Flavors of Africa with Kajri Mukherjee. In the last few years, many efforts have been made to give India a taste of the food of this continent. Mumbai’s Ubuntu tried it 17 years ago by serving South African potjie stew and bunny chow. Green Onion, also in Mumbai, introduced Shrimp Egusi and other Nigerian favourites, but could not survive the pandemic. Delhi’s Blue Nile was famous for its Ethiopian injera for a while before it closed.
Flavors of Africa opened last year and serves food from Kenya, Namibia, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria and Ethiopia. Ghanaian fufu, a smooth, spreadable staple, is made from cassava and green bananas. But all it takes is one hint of global unrest for shipments in the Arabian Sea to be affected. Therefore, they rely on local options. Only cassava grown in Kerala works, and its cost can add up ₹130 per kg, “which means we can’t always make fufu”.
Georgia, hugging the Black Sea, is not far away. The cuisine of this region is becoming increasingly popular in New York and London. At trendy Chama Mama in Manhattan, diners line up for adjaruli khachapuri (a boat-shaped bread, for which a raw egg yolk and a dollop of butter are added to the bubbly cheese right at the table) and khinkali (giant soup dumplings that were once served on the Silk Road). And yet, only a few places serve these Georgian staples on their pan-European menus.
Why? Because it’s hard to recreate Georgian food with standard kitchen backups. Suluguni, the intensely sour, salty cheese that gives their breads that distinctive elastic stretch, is deeply tied to Caucasian pastures, and getting it past India’s strict raw-dairy import rules is a bureaucratic nightmare. The essential spice blend of Khameli Suneli, Blue Fenugreek, Summer Flavor and Marigold Petals, gives unique taste, nothing that our spices can imitate.
Aparna Bhatt’s The Traveling Thali organizes food pop-ups and culture workshops in Mumbai, highlighting the culinary traditions of the Caucasus region. “To make the boat-shaped khachapuri, I had to carefully recreate the missing suluguni cheese, add mozzarella for stretch, feta for salty saltiness, and homemade cottage cheese for body,” she says.
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Right now, an Indian in Dubai can sit down to a shared plate of Ethiopian dorowat, order Mongolian hot pot, and enjoy Brazilian barbecue. The Emirates have enough expatriates from those countries to keep those restaurants running. India, less. “Expatriates are more likely to promote the spread of their native cuisine,” says Irina Malysheva, information in-charge of the Russian House in Kolkata.
His country’s cuisine is in the midst of a TikTok-powered luxury renaissance. Diners around the world are enjoying these hand-licked “caviar bumps.” Pop icons like Rihanna have ditched fast-food nuggets for premium sturgeon roe. Sweet Kamchatka crab, harvested from Russia’s icy volcanic far-eastern peninsula, is the big draw at the seafood buffet.
But, for decent Russian food in India, the best option is not a metro city, but Goa. “The Russian diaspora in Goa is much larger than in Kolkata, there are more Russian chefs and entrepreneurs who have set up eateries,” says Malysheva. So, despite its size, Goa has more Russian restaurants than any other state. Anna Galustyan, who has lived in Goa since 2008, opened Matryoshka Russian Café to serve borscht two years ago; cold soup okroshka; and syrniki, cheese pancakes that are popular among Indian walk-ins.
“In our café, we have focused on preserving the authenticity of Russian cuisine and not significantly changing the recipes for local tastes,” says Galustyan. Grill and stroganoff follow recipes designed for cold climates. Meat jelly and cooked pork are not exactly what spice-seeking Indian diners are used to. Galustyan admits that adding a little heat can bridge the gap between Russian kotelti and desi kebab.
rising in the east
Thai food has done well in India for decades. Also Vietnamese cuisine. But India is still indifferent towards Filipino food. Influenced by Spanish, Chinese and American culinary traditions, Filipino cuisine is built around soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and calamansi. “A lot of people are curious, especially the younger generation, and want to try it, but they don’t know much about the cuisine yet,” says Ellery Rosales-Kulkarni, 37, who opened Elle Kitchen, a group of six Filipina moms serving Filipino food in Goa, in August 2025.
Their menu includes lumpiang shanghai (spring rolls) and caldereta (a thick tomato stew), as well as sweet-sour adobo, meaty kare-kare curry and the falooda-like buko pandan. Rosales-Kulkarni recalls a pop-up in Chennai, where “people said they felt like they were eating Chinese food, but it didn’t taste like Chinese.” She explains that the difference often comes due to the caramel extract in Filipino soy sauce which makes it lighter and sweeter than the salty Chinese type.
Many customers return to take a break from their spice-heavy meals, but ingredients are difficult to source, leading to frequent menu changes. So, for now, Filipino food in India is more of a treasure hunt than just the restaurant category.
lean dishes
Even among Indians who are interested in these cuisines, there remains a concern that much of the menu will be savory and meaty. That means any restaurant revolution will have to expand its meatless offerings. So, expect Ghanaian jollof rice with steamed tomatoes, Georgian lobio (kidney bean) and ajapsandali (veggie stew), Filipino adobo with tofu, Peruvian fried quinoa and meatless Russian borscht (beetroot soup) and vareniki (dumplings).
And they’ll need a little diplomatic help. Thai food is popular today largely because their government has served as ambassadors of the cuisine, creating a blueprint for easy-to-replicate dishes like pad thai. Peru turned ceviche and pisco sours into national calling cards in the early ’00s through a coordinated effort of chefs, tourism bodies, and the government. Italy invests heavily in protecting its flavors around the world. There are rules governing which regions can produce which cheeses, codifying recipes for its most popular pastas.
In other words, recipes don’t magically go viral. Someone somewhere is pulling the strings. Hope someone brings more famous dishes to India.
From HT Brunch, June 06, 2026
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