Galangal, turmeric, ginger, and several other spices were found at a Mekong Delta archeological site. The discovery of this 1,800-year-old curry in Vietnam adds another chapter to this dish’s deliciously long history.
The recent history of human civilizations on the Eurasian continent can be told through spices. Economies and cultures were shaped by aromatic plants, powders and pastes—and their influence endures into the present like a lingering, savory aftertaste.
Newly published archeological research of a 1,800-year-old food preparation area in southern Vietnam, for example, extends that story further into the region’s past than ever before. The research site, Óc Eo, near the Mekong Delta, had several sandstone spice-grinding tools that contained traces of rice, coconut, and eight different spices including turmeric, ginger, galangal, cinnamon, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg—all the essentials for what we now call curry. It’s the oldest sample of the dish discovered outside of the Indian subcontinent, where some of these spices grow natively. Other identified spices aren’t native to the region, supplying further evidence of the robust spice trade that existed across southern Asia for centuries.
The recent history of curry is no less rich than the ancient history being uncovered at archeological sites. Indian and Thai are probably the most ubiquitous in Europe and North America, but globalization and colonialism had a heavy hand in shaping those dishes into what they are today.
Western diners are probably familiar with Thai curries coming in a handful of types, or more specifically, colors: Red, green, and yellow. The trio was part of a concerted effort led by the Thai government to promote Thai cuisine abroad. They conducted research on the tastes and preferences of tourists visiting Thailand and put together sample menus for their citizens who were heading abroad, even going so far as offering culinary training. The result was a distillation of the wide variety of chili paste-based dishes in Thai cuisine into the fairly uniform offerings found at most Thai restaurants in foreign countries today.
Modern-day Indian curries have a similar origin story to Thai, in that the term ‘curry’ serves as a blanket term for a broad range of dishes from different parts of the country. Unlike the Thai case, though, India did not see a centralized effort led by the government to present their food to the outside world. Instead, food writer Mari Uyehara explains in Food & Wine, “The word curry was used by an imperialist power, Britain, to describe an array of dishes made by many different communities in another culture.”
One of the great delights of traveling, or intercultural exchanges closer to home, is the chance to try other cuisines. And often, we’re not just looking for the tastiest dishes, but the most authentic ones as well. Archeological discoveries like the recent one in Óc Eo complicate straightforward distinctions of essentially Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, or any other cuisine. Instead, they demonstrate the way these delicious meals are still being shaped by the same forces that carried cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg all the way from Southwest to Southeast Asia—transcontinental trade and the resulting cultural exchanges.
That said, the spices found in the cooking implements at Óc Eo are very similar to those used today for the curries of that region (southern Vietnam). The only ingredient not present was chiles, which are native to the Americas and only arrived in Asia in the 16th century. This means that throughout centuries of trade, wars, and change, at least one thing has remained constant: Humans have found the combo of turmeric, galangal, ginger, and other spices to be especially delicious.
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Miyo McGinn
Miyo McGinn is a writer, fact-checker, and self-described aspiring ski bum based in Washington. Her bylines can be found at Grist, High Country News, and Outside. She covers US and global news stories for Adventure.com.
