Indian-born British chef and restauranteur Asma Khan cleared the air about what 'curry' is and how it has "no meaning at all" when it comes to Indian cuisine. While appearing on the July 2026's episode of comedian Trevor Noah's podcast - What Now? With Trevor Noah - the Michelin-recognised chef shared how she was unaware of the word 'curry' before she moved to England.
The discussion began when Noah recalled visiting India and being confused by how people reacted when he said he loved curry. He also recounted an exchange about naan, when someone explained to him that saying "naan bread" was essentially saying "bread bread."
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"So, okay, help us understand. All of us who want to be initiated into this world, help us understand. What is curry?" Noah asked Khan.
Her answer challenged a term commonly used to describe a wide range of Indian dishes.
Responding to the question, Asma said, "I never heard of the word till I came to England," Khan said, recalling that the first time someone asked her if she knew how to make curry, she did not know what they meant.
She said she first encountered the word after moving to the UK. According to Khan, it is an English term that the British adapted from a word associated with a type of South Indian spicy sauce.
"We don't know. Every dish has a name. Curry is not a name of anything," she said.
Why Asma Khan Objects To The Word 'Curry'
For Khan, the problem with the term goes beyond what a dish is called. She argued that using one word to describe a broad range of Indian food takes away from the country's culinary diversity.
"It's almost like they need to dumb it down to the lowest common denominator by calling it one thing," she said, adding that doing so removes the complexity of the food.
Khan also questioned the idea that a country as large and diverse as India could be represented by a single cuisine. To explain her point, she asked listeners to imagine describing the food of Europe as one cuisine, or combining North and South America and calling their food American cuisine.
She argued that broad labels can obscure the regional differences, identities and traditions that shape food. In her view, treating Indian food as one category makes it easier to overlook what distinguishes its many culinary traditions.
"The problem is they take away from us our layering, our identity, our accent, the fabric that we wear, the thing that makes us different," Khan said.
She added that grouping people and their cultures under one label paints them "all in one corner in the same shade".
'Butter Chicken Curry' And 'Vindaloo Curry': Is That Wrong?
During the discussion, Noah if someone says they love butter chicken curry or vindaloo curry, is that incorrect?
"It's absolutely wrong," Khan replied.
She compared the construction to saying "spaghetti pasta", arguing that the additional word is a generic label that does not identify the actual dish.
"There is no dish that doesn't have a name," she said.
Khan explained that Indian dishes have their own names, and that these names can also describe the ingredients used to prepare them. As an example, she referred to jeera aloo, a dish whose name combines jeera, meaning cumin, and aloo, meaning potato.
Her point was not that Indian dishes lack names, but that calling them all curry overlooks the distinctions their names convey.
Asma Khan Wanted To Drop The Word From A Food Show
During the conversation, Khan also recalled a disagreement over the use of the word in a television programme she worked on, Secrets of the Curry Kitchen.
She said she initially objected to the title because she did not want to use the word curry. However, she was told that viewers might not be able to understand that the programme was about Indian food if the familiar term was removed.
Eventually, she agreed to use it, but with a condition: she would explain her objection on camera.
"I said, fine, you know, I'd rather people understood," she recalled.
Khan said she made a point of telling viewers in every episode that there was no such thing as curry, before demonstrating how to prepare specific dishes, including korma and jalfrezi.
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Who Is Asma Khan?
Asma Khan is an Indian-born British chef, restaurateur and cookbook author who runs Darjeeling Express, a London restaurant known for its Indian home-style cooking and all-women kitchen team.
She was featured in Netflix's Chef's Table, becoming the first British chef to appear in the series. In 2024, TIME magazine named her one of the world's 100 most influential people. Aside from her restaurant and television work, Khan has advocated for women in the food industry and for greater recognition of the people and traditions behind the food they cook.