A friend of mine recently bought an herb plant that was reportedly labeled "curry." It resembles a rosemary plant. This doesn't sound like a curry tree. Any ideas what this could be?

Actually, I just answered my question with a little web research. From http://www.nhg.com/db/1078.htm

CURRY PLANT Helichrysum italiacum

Tender Perennial Ht: 1' - 2' Light: Full Sun Soil: Well Drained Soil Color: Yellow Symbolism:

Tender Perennial Culinary Ornamental

Related to the strawflower, it bears attractive golden yellow flowers.

It is popular for its curry scented foliage. Great container plant. Likes hot dry conditions. The English use this herb in cream cheese for sandwiches and in salads egg and chicken).

This is not the commercial source of curry powder.

Curry is not an Indian dish. Many people think it is, but it is not.

Since many people think it is, you must prove it otherwise.

Let me see if I can pull this one off: Confucius was not Chinese. Many people think he was, but he was not.

Why do we care what the Tamil word for coal is? -- Zoe

Whether we care or not, while kari means either sauce or coal in Tamil I am no sure the two are connected (I do not speak Tamil so I wouldn't really know) I suspect that like "wind" in English it has two distinct meanings. User:Dainamo (not logged on 24sept04)

For starters, User: Zoe was referring to a version of the article as of 26 Apr 2003. That version (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Curry&oldid=1011309) has a line about the Tamil word for coal. I speak Tamil natively, and for the record, the words for coal and curry are homophones. Ambarish | Talk 16:13, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Thank you Ambarish. I gave an example that was not homophonic, perhaps not a good choice but I could have equally used one that was. Since we are talking about coal perhaps "coke" and "Coke"(TM) would be one. Stating my ignorance first, the reason I harked back to the earlier version making the conjecture in the discussion that the two words were unrelated, was to leave it open to question to anyone who did know. A connection between kari for curry and kari for coal, however obscure, would be interesting and relevant. If there is no connection it would not be. I would be most grateful for you comments Dainamo 18:41, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

You see, the two letters ர (U+0BB0) and ற (U+0BB1) are pronounced similarly in modern Tamil. The word for coal uses the former, whereas the word from is curry is derived uses the latter. So it's not like "coke" and "Coke" (TM) but more like "eye" and "I". Ambarish | Talk 17:23, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Isnt it the custom for wikipedia pages to cover the most common and relevant usages of a work first.

Curry for 99% of people means Indian style quisine similar to what is found in Indian resturants/curry houses or what I cook when I cook something from a cookbook I have called 50 Classic Curries. Common examples are: Rogan Josh, Madras, Vindaloo, Balti, Tikka Masala, Korma etc.

The article should refect this, and only talk about the other less well known meanings near the end (ie the tamil word for coal). Even references to curry as something confined to England is clearly no longer true, while very important to its genesis. So the first paragraph shouldnt mention this, but be purely descriptive.

Also there are currys from many other countries, there are cape malay curries from south africa, malasian, thai, pakistani, burmese etc.

Htaccess 07:22 8 Jun 2003 (UTC)

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I got this from a site regarding an alternate etymology for the word "Curry": There is, however, a theory that the name derived from Sir George Curry (1826-1890). He was a British soldier who spent his entire career in the East India Company and later in the Indian Army reaching the rank of general. He was said to be the first officer in the British Raj to develop a taste for the highly-spiced stews enjoyed by the local inhabitants and, as a result, dined alone for many years. He attempted to introduce mutton vindaloo and chapaties to his own soldiers but it was not a success and nearly led to another mutiny. It was only after Queen Victoria ate some at a luncheon for visiting rajahs in 1869 that "Curry" began to become popular in Britain. Jay 19:20, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I think this is an urband legend. Curry is undobtedly a cooruption of the tamil "Kari" meaning sauce. Dainamo 23:07, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The standard usage of the word curry imo in India (esp. North India) is for gravies prepared with curry/ kari / kad-hi leaves (bay leaves). bay leaves in the eastern states are called kad-hiya leaves. An anglicised approximation of the word results in "curry". Which is why not all dishes with gravies are not referred to as curries in the Indian context. The usage of the word curry extending to all Indian gravy dishes seems to me a generalization rather than anything else. A few examples of "Kad-hi" (note the use of curry leaves): [1] (http://www.bawarchi.com/bihar/bihari54.html) [2] (http://www.webindia123.com/cookery/region/gujarati/meth.htm) As it appears in the article this therefore seems inaccurate : The term curry derives from kari, a Tamil word meaning sauce and referring to various kinds of dishes common in South India Avataran 22:14, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Rendang

I would not describe "rendang" as a kind of curry. Rendang is a pure meat-dish, with no vegetables. Sure, people eat it with vegetables on the side (and of course rice) but they are cooked seperately. MartijnL 09:59, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

As the article suggests, "Curry" is a broadly used term and the inclusion or exclusion of vegetables would certainly not prevent a dish being given the name. A standard curry ordered in many restaurants will often only have meat in it and the characteristics of and ingredients in Rendang would mean it is fairly described as a curry. Dainamo 23:04, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I agree with MartijnL. Rendang is not a curry. It is a dish associated with the Malay and Sumatran people. I wonder if they add galangal to their curry or pounded roasted coconut slivers for that matter. Rendang is slowly cooked in coconut milk and spices until almost all the liquid is gone, leaving the meat coated in the spicy condiments. The 'curry' is more watery. There are many versions of rendang - none have any vegetables in them. There are many versions of 'curry' - some like the Malaysian one have potatoes, brinjals or other veggie in them. But actually do we care? If the rendang or curry is delicious, it would be beyond labels, names and words.

Indian restaurenst may be Bangladeshi owned but they serve pukka Indian cuisine

There is no need for "Indian". Those restaurents may be Bangladeshi owned but they serve Indian food. Bengali food differs significantly from other varities in Indian subcontinent. If an Englishman owns an Indian Curry house would u call it an English Curry House this logic sounds stupid...

Cleanup

I've done a bit of cleanup to the article (particularly the British section) as there was a lot of repetition and 'lost' sentences within it... hopefully it's better now. Qwghlm 01:38, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)