Goan Cuisine: A Perfect Blend of East and West

From the archive record

Food, wine and the good life. Larger than life and tastier than chocolate were the lobsters at Riviera. The atmosphere demanded to take a table and then simply enjoy good food, wine and view. Goa’s beaches, nightlife and adventure are the major crowd-pullers, but one more thing that attracts swarms of tourists to Goa every year is Goan cuisine. Goan cuisine is influenced by numerous cultures that it came into contact with over the centuries: Portuguese, Arab, Brazilian, African, French, Konkan, Malabar, Malaysian and Chinese. The three main communities of Goa — Hindus, Muslims and Christians — also contributed to the cuisine. This blending of native cultures and foreign is reflected in Goan cuisine. The major foreign influence came from the Portuguese. This started in 1498, when Portugues