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Indian food, with its hodgepodge of ingredients and intoxicating aromas, is coveted around the world. The labour-intensive cuisine and its mix of spices is more often than not a revelation for those who sit down to eat it for the first time. Heavy doses of cardamom, cayenne, tamarind and other flavours can overwhelm an unfamiliar palate. Together, they help form the pillars of what tastes so good to so many people. But behind the appeal of Indian food — what makes it so novel and so delicious — is also a stranger and subtler truth. Some researchers have discovered perhaps the key reason why Indian food tastes so unique: It does something radical with flavours, something very different from the rest of the cuisines. The unique makeup of Indian cuisine can be seen in some dishes more than others, and it seems to be tied to the use of specific ingredients. Spices usually indicate dishes with flavours that have no chemical common ground. More specifically, many Indian recipes contain cay