Although Chinese cuisine have recently been
taking ground as one of the most loved ethnic cuisine in Britain, British
beer-and-curry weekends are not going anywhere. Britons’ love affair with curry
is dug way too deep into the roots of history for it to be displaced in a snap.
No doubt, Indian curry is the comfort food of millions of Brits, and its
popularity goes back almost four hundred years ago.
When
Queen Elizabeth I Said Yes
At the dawn of the 17th century,
London merchants decided it would be a worthy undertaking to cross the Indian
Ocean to see if they can trade with an exotic land called India. They formed a
joint-stock company called the East India Company, the sole purpose of which
was to establish trade with the East Indies. They filed a petition to Queen
Elizabeth I for permission to set sail, and on 1600 the petition was granted
and a royal charter was bestowed upon it.
Amidst wars against Portuguese and Spanish
forces, the company hadmanaged to become the most powerful and dominating
trading corporation in India. This further strengthened Britain as a world
power. Soon after, British people settled in India and intermarried with Indian
women. Indian seamen, known as langars,
also boarded British ships and landed in London. By 1810 there were an
estimated 1400 langarson English
land, and more Indians entered the country in the following years.
Brit’s
Spicy Tastes
It was not long before Brits took an
interest in Indian cuisine. Curry powder was particularly popular even back
then, leading to the publication of recipes and commercial production of curry
powder in 1780. The Coffee House in Norris Street, Haymarket, Londonwas the
first English restaurant to have offered curry on a menu in 1773.
The first ever establishment that offered
solely Indian food, however, was the Hindostanee Coffee House at Portman
Square, London which opened in 1809. Owned by Dean
Mahomet, the restaurant sought to provide “for the entertainment of Indian
gentlemen, where they may enjoy the Hoakha, with real Chilm tobacco, and Indian
dishes”.
Since then, the love for Indian cuisine
spread across the country, becoming one of the fastest growing food and
drinkindustry sector. This exponential growth was partlytriggered in 1984 by
Pat Chapman’s The Curry Club and Good Curry Guide, which publicised the cuisine and caused supermarkets to stock
curry ingredients and chilled meals. Other publications also taught how to
recreate curries at home. Asian cateringLondon, particularly Indian and Chinese catering, also boomed around this
time.
Indian
Cuisine Today
Bangladesh is entered the catering
industry around 1970, and since then dominated the industry of Indian wedding catering London. They
own approximately 65 to 75% of the more than 9000 Indian restaurants in the
country.
Chicken tikka masala is now often cited as
the nation’s most favourite ethnic dish, even called by the then foreign
secretary Robin Cook as “a true British national dish”. With the popularity of
Indian foods, Bangladeshis will remain as top Asian caterers London.
