jains curry before portughese colombian exchange

Yes. Jain cuisine existed long before the Columbian Exchange and the Portuguese arrival in India.

In Jain tradition, food is shaped by ahimsa and aparigraha, so classical Jain food mainly used ingredients already available in India before the 16th century, such as:

• grains like wheat, rice, millet
• pulses and lentils
• milk, ghee, curd
• vegetables and fruits available in India
• spices and herbs
• sugarcane products, jaggery, sesame, coconut, etc.

After the Columbian Exchange, new foods such as chili, tomato, potato, peanut, corn, and some squashes entered Indian cuisine. These became part of many later regional foods, including some modern Jain adaptations, but they were not part of original pre-Columbian Jain cooking.

So the short answer is: Yes, Jain food existed before the Portuguese-era Columbian Exchange, and it was based on older Indian ingredients and ahimsak principles.