The staple diet of Goa is fish curry and rice. Unlike the rest of India, most Hindus in Goa eat fish. In the monsoons, when no fresh fish is available, most Goans have very long faces.

The other favorite dish is pork, although chicken is a close second. In Goa like many other places in the world, alcohol, for some, is a major problem. The main cause of which is FENI. This is the local drink in Goa, made from either coconut sap or cashew fruit.

Goan cuisine is really palatable satisfying the gluttony of anyone, especially a gourmet or connoisseur. If you belong to the above category and you are making a trip to Goa, then you have made the right choice. The cuisine in Goa is a perfect blend of diverse food cultures - the Konkan, the Portuguese and the Bahamani Nawabi traditions. When you travel to Goa, you will find Goan food is simple but also very hot and spicy.

The major attractions of the cuisine take in seafood, sea-fruits, fish, prawns, mussels, oysters, crabs, feni, gin and many more. Goan restaurants also offer chourisso (pickled pig's liver cooked in vinegar with tamarind) & vindalho (spicy pork). Goans use coconut sauces. One can also find India's best of beers & local wines (port being the most palatable). Goa offers equally good options for vegetarians also with a wide range of regional vegetarian thalis from North-Indian, South-Indian, Jaini thali, marwari thali so on and so forth. If you are a person who loves satisfying the demands of your taste buds, then Goan cuisine in India will offer you immense satisfaction.

Name any kind of food and you have it-be it Chinese, Thai, Italian, Mughalai, South Indian, Mexican, Portuguese, Korean, Vietnamese and of course our own Goan...restaurants in Goa, India, will have them ready for you. This way, you won't be missing out on your traditional food, no matter what nationality you belong to. But once in this Indian state of Goa, it would be a good idea to relish the traditional cuisine of Goa, India.

Eating out in Goa, India, can be a special experience. Goa is lined up with numerous restaurants offering Goan food or any other food that you want and these Goan restaurants are usually situated by the beach, giving you a unique recipe of the setting sun blended with delicious sea-food and thirst-quenching Feni.

If you would like to experience exotic Goan delicacies, then you should be in India and especially in Goa between November and May because it is during this time that the Goan restaurants churn up their own recipe.

South Goa has five star resorts to its credit but if you are looking for Goan delicacies at reasonable rates, then North Goa is undoubtedly the place to be.

TREAT FOR NON-VEGETARIANS IN GOA

Let us begin our culinary journey from the traditional Goan snack, Pao com Chouricos (fried spicy Goan sausages, sautéed with onions, served in a bread roll) or Iscas de Galinha (fried chicken liver). Wash the spice down with an almost bland Portuguese potato broth with diced greens, called Caldo verde. In true Portuguese-Goan tradition, many of the delicacies on the menu are various types of meat soaked in different spices for at least a day or two before being cooked with a generous dose of homemade spices.

Or you could try the Galhina Piri-Piri, which are chicken pieces marinated in a mild mixture of piri-piri and Goan herbs, before being fried. As legend goes the Goa cuisine is responsible for introducing that quintessential Portuguese delicacy Chicken Cafreal (chicken marinated in a mildly spiced green coconut masala and fried) to the people world over. Another mouth-watering specialty of Goa is Pork Vindaloo (Pork cooked in a spicy, oily masala gravy). The Goa cuisine promises that if you taste their Goan pork vindaloo once, then any other preparation of pork is not going to appeal to you. Why not check out that promise?

A happier meeting of cultures produced the Goan cuisine. Alongside tandoori, rice and dal, Goan restaurants offer chourisso (pickled pig's liver cooked in vinegar with tamarind) & vindalho (spicy pork). Chillies & cashew nuts were introduced by the Portuguese, as were plantains brought from African colonies; Goans use coconut sauces. You will find India's best of beers & local wines (port being the most palatable).

Often music & dance accompany festivities, the Christian religions having mingled with traditional Indian practices of folk worship. During the carnivals towns & villages rock under wildest spirits. People dancing in the streets & Feni flows freely everywhere.