Lunch time at Daryaganj restaurant in Delhi. Moti Mahal Delux, a restaurant chain, and Daryaganj are in a legal battle over the ownership of butter chicken.
Photographer: Saumya Khandelwal/BloombergCulture
Delhi’s Butter Chicken Fight Traces City’s Turbulent Past Through Food
From Mughal rule to Partition, a legal tussle over the creamy curry shows how the Indian capital came to be the culinary center of the country.
In the dog-eared cookbook of India’s culinary delights, the section for Delhi is uniquely beloved. From crisp, gooey sweets like jalebi to the tangy flavor of lamb pulao, the city is built around enjoying, sharing, defending and bickering over food.
Lately, those passions have fixed on a single question: Can you trademark the world’s most famous recipes?