DuracellEnergizer said:

I read that the dinner scene in TOD was supposed to indicate that the people living in Pankot palace were heretics -- mainstream Hindus wouldn't eat monkeys, for instance -- and there was a scene filmed where Jones addressed this, but for some unwise reason the scene was cut from the final film.

You're absolutely right, and it would certainly have helped the film to leave that in.

Of course that still doesn't solve the film's biggest problem: that it's basically a remake of Gunga Din starring Indiana Jones.

Something of the racism and imperialism of that earlier film carries over into Temple of Doom--as we see with the heroic British Army riding in and shooting down the troublesome natives.

Now, I don't have a problem with enjoying old films like Gunga Din (I do love the Conan stories of Robert E. Howard, after all), but they're definitely products of their time.

Any modern adaptation really has to get rid of the racism in those old works, but I don't think Lucas and Spielberg tried very hard to do that, as evidenced by the dinner scene.