Eating across India without getting sick

Street food is not the danger people imagine. Stale food is. The rule that matters most is turnover: a busy stall cooking in front of you is safer than a quiet restaurant reheating a buffet.

Eat where families eat, especially at lunch. Order what the place is known for rather than a broad menu — a kachori shop makes one thing well and nine things badly.

Regional order of operations, roughly: kachori and dal baati in Rajasthan, chaat and kebabs in Lucknow and Delhi, appam and meen curry in Kerala, Chettinad and filter coffee in Tamil Nadu, luchi and mishti in Kolkata, pork and bamboo shoot in the North East, and Goan xacuti and fish thali on the coast.

Drink only sealed bottled or filtered water, skip ice in small towns, and give yourself two or three gentle days at the start rather than diving straight into three chilli-heavy meals a day.

If you want the real education, do a home kitchen session. An hour with someone's mother teaches you more about Indian food than a week of restaurants.