Pilaf is a rice dish, sometimes made with wheat, cooked in stock or broth with spices, vegetables or meat. The defining technique is cooking the grains so they stay separate rather than sticking together. Methods like this spread across a vast area from South Asia to Spain during the Abbasid Caliphate, and from them evolved Spanish paella, South Asian pulao and biryani. Pilaf and similar dishes remain staples across Middle Eastern, Balkan, Central Asian, East African, Latin American and South Asian cuisines.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.