Originally Posted by
alcatel
In a hot place like India food deteriorates pretty quickly, especially meat. I suspect curries partly developed there to cover the taste from slightly tainted meat or gone off food.
Refrigeration is only with us a relatively short time(kudos to Clarence Birds Eye, it seems).
Without refrigeration, imagine the difficulties of having ice cream in a 40 degree Celsius climate.
The ancient Romans had an ice cream like concoction that involved bringing ice from the mountains (well padded/insulated to try and keep it from melting), but that was only for the super-rich. We, with our electricity and fridges etc, are like super-rich in comparison to the majority of Indian people, Ice cream is not something they aspire to, getting enough to eat daily is the challenge for many of them.
Curry as a national dish of India is eminently sensible and thoroughly logical.