[2][3] Reviewing Curry: a tale of cooks and conquerors for Eclectica, Niranjana Iyer wrote that as an Indian living in the West, he read the book with delight.
He notes that the spice most characteristic of Indian cuisine and the British Vindaloo curry was brought by Christopher Columbus from the New World to Spain, and then by Vasco da Gama from Portugal to India.
[4] William Grimes, reviewing Curry for The New York Times, described it as a "fascinating if digressive inquiry", into one of the world's "most internationalized foods".
Grimes comments that the subject in Collingham's hands is far wider than curry, as it explores Indian cuisine's "often bizarre" cultural exchanges and its global export, stating that "it is a British invention".
Barr notes Collingham's analysis, that Indian food "has always been the product of cultural integration, its flavours influenced by colonisation and emigration from the days of the British Raj.
"[6] Kwasi Kwarteng, in The Guardian, calls The Hungry Empire "an energetic and refreshing account of a little considered aspect of British history.