Indian cuisine in introducing certain foods to this country. For instance, potato, a staple of the diet in some regions of India, was brought to India by the Portuguese, who also introduced chillies and breadfruit. Indian cuisine has shaped the history of international relations; the spice trade between India and Europe was the primary catalyst for Europe's Age of Discovery. Spices were bought from India and traded around Europe and Asia. Indian cuisine has influenced other cuisines across the world, especially those from Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, the British Isles, Fiji, and the Caribbean. Indian cuisine
Indian cuisine generally common in Indian cooking, is absent in the cuisine of Assam. A traditional meal in Assam begins with a "khar", a class of dishes named after the main ingredient and ends with a "tenga", a sour dish. Homebrewed rice beer or rice wine is served before a meal. The food is usually served in bell metal utensils. "Paan", the practice of chewing betel nut, generally concludes a meal. Bihari cuisine is wholesome and simple. "Litti chokha", a baked salted wheat-flour cake filled with "sattu" (baked chickpea flour) and some special spices, is well known among the middle-class families served