Food for thought! India ranks 5th in world's best cuisines list; shahi paneer among top 50 traditional dishes on global menu

Desi foodies, it's time to celebrate!

India has ranked fifth in Taste Atlas's ‘World’s Best Cuisine Awards 2022’ with a whopping 4.54 out of five-star ratings! The Bulgaria-based food website included “garam-masala, ghee, malai, butter garlic naan, keema” as the top-rated foods in the country. The ranking is based on audience ratings of ingredients, dishes and beverages.

Italian cuisine grabbed the top spot, followed by Greek, Spanish and Japanese respectively.

However, India failed to score high in the best ‘traditional dishes’ (worldwide) category. Only Shahi paneer made the cut, ranking 28th. The Shahi Paneer from Delhi’s Kake Da Hotel received an enviable 4.66 rating. On the other hand, butter chicken, a more popular dish in Indian heartlands ranked much lower at 53! Lucknow Korma by Dastarkhwan stood at 55th rank. Vindaloo of Venite in Goa stood proud at 71 along with the iconic Hyderabadi Biryani (by ITC Kohenur).

For the uninitiated, Shahi paneer is a modern day vegetarian spinoff of Mughlai cuisine. This immensely popular dish is regular at parties and get-togethers. It is also a comfort-food for many. Cubes of cottage cheese (paneer) fried crisp along with onions, tomatoes and green peppers and then drenched thoroughly with a rich gravy made up of cashew paste, tomato and spices like nutmeg, mace and cardamom and pepper.

The website also recommended the names of Indian restaurants with the best traditional dishes. Eateries like Shree Thaker Bhojanalay (Mumbai), Karavalli (Bangalore), Bukhara (New Delhi), Dum Pukht (Delhi), Comorin (Gurugram), Girimanja's (Mangaluru), Kinara Dhaba Village (Waksai), Annalakshmi (Chennai), Mavalli Tiffin Rooms (Bangalore) featured in the list.

The list was tweeted on the Twitter handle of the website. It has become viral with 36 million views and 15,000 comments. Many people found the list to be less than satisfactory. "This is a list you'd come up with if you'd never eaten food, " wrote one user. Another commented, "Lebanon, Pakistan, Thailand, Jamaica should be in the top 10. How is England on the list? German food? What, kartoffelpuffer & bratkartoffeln?? How are people liking Bangladesh over Pakistan?! Too much stress in one tweet."