Eat everything. Drink carefully.
The caution people arrive with is aimed at the wrong target. They spend the trip avoiding food — which is most of what India has to offer — and then drink a glass of water without thinking about it.
Invert that. Eat widely, including street food, in the places your guide eats. What deserves the second thought is water: sealed or filtered only, and that extends to ice and to raw salad anywhere you are not sure about the kitchen. Every hotel we use provides safe water without being asked.
This is not squeamishness. It is the single easiest way to protect the middle of a trip, and the difference between a bad twelve hours and a bad three days is almost always which one of those two rules somebody relaxed.
If you have a real intolerance or a dietary requirement, tell your curator early rather than at the table. Indian kitchens accommodate it easily when they know in advance.
