Curry powder is a spice mix originating from the Indian subcontinent.
Curry powder and the contemporary English use of the word "curry" are Western inventions and do not reflect any specific food from the Indian subcontinent, though a similar mixture of spices used in the Northern regions of the Indian subcontinent is called garam masala. Curry powder was used as an ingredient in 18th-century British recipe books, and commercially available from the late 18th century, with brands such as Crosse & Blackwell and Sharwood's persisting to the present. British traders introduced the powder to Meiji Japan, in the mid-19th century, where it became known as Japanese curry