many Indian recipes ask for mustard oil. all the bottles I find here are labelled for external use. does anyone have an online source for foo

I used to really fret about this. I have small kids and I am not Indian, so for me it was an issue of starting to eat mustard oil rather than quitting. But then I realized that there ARE mustard oil blends (blended with canola) sold for consumption, which I found ridiculous. so I use the stuff now. It hasn't killed us yet and mustard is my favorite Indian flavor (well mustard and cumin but I associate cumin with lots of cuisines).

The New York Times did an article about it a few months back that was kind interesting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/dining/american-chefs-discover-mustard-oil.html

Mustard oil can only be sold in the US with that external-use-only label because of a possible carcinogen in mustard oil. However, the stuff you eat in South Asia is exactly the same as the "massage oil" you buy here in the US -- even some of the same brands are available.

I wouldn't stop eating the stuff if you paid me -- it lends an incomparable spiciness that can't be duplicated. Onion pakoras fried in mustard oil...mmm!

Pretty interesting story
http://blog.veenasmarket.com/2011/11/04/the-mustard-oil-controversy-an-oil-for-cooking-or-for-massage-only/