To understand Oriya cuisine better, you have to understand its geography. In my context, all three cities that I spent 20 years of my life have some influence from the neighbouring states. Andhra Pradesh influences southern Orissa; Chhattisgarh has significant influence on several dishes prepared in a Sambulpur household or vice versa and the food from Cuttack certainly has similarities with Bengali cuisine. After all, until 1936, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal were one state.