It’s one of the most popular dishes in the world. It’s also one of the oldest and most diverse. It brings to mind fragrant meat and vegetables simmering in spices and covered in herbs, and can be virtually any color of the rainbow. There are a great many types of curry, ranging from mild to spicy, sweet to savory.
Yes, the word “curry” has grown over the last few millennia to include a wide variety of dishes from all corners of the earth, including many national variations from countries such as Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam and the Caribbean. But here are a few things you might not know about this globally beloved dish.
10 Fun Facts About Curry
- Curry dates back thousands of years. After examining a pile of (very) old dishes, archaeologists estimate that people have been eating curry for 4,500 years, which makes it one of the oldest continuously prepared meals in the world.
- The word “curry” can refer to curry the cuisine, curry the leaf or curry the spice.
- Curry has been in the United States for almost two hundred years. The first American cookbook, “The Virginia Housewife,” was published in 1824 and featured a curry recipe.
- Phaal curry is considered one of the hottest curries in the world. The dish includes two of the hottest chili peppers on earth, the Scorpion and Naga peppers. To give you an idea of how hot that is, the Scorpion pepper scores a 1.5 million rating on the Scoville Scale. A habanero pepper, however, only has a score of 350,000.
- The world’s largest curry made it into the Guiness Book of World Records in 2015. It weighed 33,838.9 pounds and was created by the Indian Chefs and Culinary Association in Singapore. The record for the world’s largest naan bread was broken a year later in 2016 by Loblaw Companies Limited in Canada. The bread weighed over 70 pounds and was over 16 feet long by 4 feet wide.
- The top five cities that ordered the most curry on ezCater last year were San Francisco (coming in at No. 1) followed by Boston, San Jose, Washington D.C. and New York. The top five most ordered curry dishes last year? Yellow Curry, Panang Curry, Red Coconut Curry Stir Fry, Chicken Curry and Red Curry.
- Speaking of which, National Chicken Curry Day is January 12. In some parts of the U.S. curried chicken is known as Country Captain Chicken, a popular dish of stewed chicken flavored with curry powder.
- A special curry dish was invented in honor of the 1953 inauguration of Queen Elizabeth called “Coronation Chicken.” It’s still widely popular in Great Britain.
- Curry powder is a spice mix that typically includes coriander, turmeric and cumin, and can also include garlic, ginger, chilli and fenugreek, just to name a few. There are endless variations.
- Did you know? Curry can be good for your health. The different mixes of spices in curry powders can help control blood sugar, help prevent and fight cancer, and improve heart health.
Top 10 Curry Caterers
These are the top restaurants offering curry dishes on the ezCater platform:
- Honeygrow (24 locations along the east coast, from Massachusetts to Virginia)
- Asian Box Catering (8 locations across California)
- Cosi Catering (25 locations along the east coast, including New York and Washington, DC)
- Ratcha Thai (San Francisco, CA)
- Pei Wei Asian Kitchen (119 locations nation-wide)
- Pollo Tropical (131 locations across Florida)
- The Fusion Factory (San Leandro and Mountain View, CA)
- Urban Plates (20 locations in California, Maryland, and Virginia)
- Pineapple Thai Cuisine (Chestnut Hill, MA)
- Thai Select (Arlington, VA)
Hungry yet? Come explore Indian catering options near you and treat the office to this warming and delicious dish.
