While Hyderabadi cuisine with its distinctive Mughlai flavour is famous around the world, food from the other parts of Andhra, one of India’s largest and culturally most diverse states, remains relatively unknown. In this addition to the Penguin series on Indian food and customs, the author brings together for the first time the different tastes of Andhra cooking from the humble idli-sambar to spicy seafood delicacies. Along with the recipes she recounts the traditions and rituals associated with food, such as the right order in which to serve the dishes, a typical menu for an occasion such as Ugadi, and the sweets indigent on certain auspicious days. From the dishes traditionally prescribed for pregnant women, to the festivities surrounding birth and marriage, Bilkees I. Latif describes with knowledge and flair the cuisine and customs of her state.