About Ooty The 'Queen of Hill Stations' Udhagamandalam, better known as Ooty, is the most popular hill station in South India. Located in the Western Ghats at a height of 2240 metres, Udhagamandalam is the headquarters of the Nilgiri district. The Toda tribe has been living here since time immemorial, but the credit for 'discovering' Ooty, making it accessible and developing it, surely goes to the British. In 1822, John Sullivan, the then Collector of Coimbatore, constructed the 'Stone House', which is now the Chamber of the Principal of the Government Arts College and one of Ooty's better known landmarks. Ooty was the summer capital of the Madras Presidency, in the days of the British Raj. Ooty is connected by narrow gauge railway from Mettupalayam, which is linked to Coimbatore and Chennai. A ride in this in this 100-year - old railway system is a scintillating experience. The nearest airport is 100 Km away in Coimbatore, which is connected to Chennai, Bombay and Bangalore. Udhagamandalam is well connected by good roads to Coimbatore, Chennai and other closer places. Food Nilgiris District in Tamilnadu comprises of Different kinds of Tribes which have inhabited the region for many hundreds of years. Among them the well known are the Todas, Kurumbas, Badagas and Kotas. The Toda Tribe have very simple food habits, their cuisine comprises of mainly milk and milk products but the Badaga Cuisine consists of wide variety of items from the locally grown vegetables and herbs. Besides the tribes, the nilgiris is also associated with the Anglo Indian community, whose food habits are a direct influence of the British, whereby the local Indian settlers from various parts of Tamilnadu and India incorporated their own spices and tastes into typical English cuisine, giving rise to the Anglo Indian cuisine Culture The culture of the city used to be dictated by the Todas, the local tribals. However with the industrial and tourism related development having taken place here, the cultural approach of the entire hill station is Similar to that of the rest of the state of Tamil Nadu. Spices Varied agro-climatic conditions in Ooty offer vast scope for production of a variety of herbs including Mint, Parsley and Oregano.