Curry is a blend of spices including saffron, cumin and many others that are pounded together in a mortar. The final colour is an intense yellow, like mustard. This curry, which is used for flavouring different types of dishes, is native to India, where it is more normally called masala. Away from India we talk instead of ‘curry’, a generic word to indicate various mixes of spices used in different areas of Southeast Asia, China or Japan. The term ‘curry’ seems not only to have nothing to do with India, but not even with Asia as a whole. It seems to have been invented in Europe, and that it comes from the Tamil noun "cari", indicating a soup. In colonial times, the British arrived in India, borrowed this term and associated it with the masala, spreading the improper use of the word ‘curry’.