Not exactly a Seeknfind, but ask the Sikh MD:
> Regarding curries:
>
> I know that Indian pickeling had bacteriostatic effect because of lots of
> salt used in them. The osmolarity of the pickling fluid is so high that
> the
> bacteria and fungi loose fluid and do not survive in the preparation. In
> fact in India some people make non-vegetarian pickles (lamb meat, chicken)
> which survives without refigeration for a long time. So this may have led
> to curries. Although I doubt that it was to mask the taste of
> unrefigerated
> perishables - because if you would mask the taste and people would eat
> stale/spoilt food - they would become sick and curries would not be
> popular.
>
>
