Lets do curry for dinner

What is British cuisine? Fish and Chips, Sunday Roast, Bangers and Mash... A few years back, I used to treat British cuisine as an oxymoron. After having lived over here for the past two years, I have grown respectful towards my host country. But there is also another interesting phenomenon in Britain as a result of two factors. The first one is the empire where the sun never set and the second is the liberal immigration policies towards the Commonwealth countries when the sun finally set on the Empire.

While living in colonies, they must have developed a taste for local food. They carried the love for ethnic food back to their country. The immigration policies during the second half of the previous century ensured the ethnic restaurants sprouted up in various parts of the country. The majority of these restaurants feature Indian cuisine. For ease of convenience and also to bulk up the numbers, I have grouped Pakistani and Bangladeshi cuisine under Indian cuisine. Sometimes, simplification is best for comprehension.

A few months, I was traveling by a single carriageway. Out of nowhere, I saw an Indian restaurant. I looked around for signs of prominent office buildings, supermarkets or houses. I couldn't find any. I was passing by Exeter, and I found a Kerala restaurant there. These restaurants do not feature dumbed down version of food sold in India. The food is equally spicy. A Brit will eat the food without upsetting the decorum featuring one of their prominent characteristics namely stoicism.

The Indian cuisine has almost become the national cuisine over. To tell you the truth, I do feel jealous. What do you expect? They have adopted my cuisine. At the same time, I do feel happy too. To understand this feeling, you will have to hear the praises heaped upon the Indian cuisine. The discussion of cuisine invariably leads to a discussion of culture which in turn is fascinating for both the parties, me being one of the parties.

It all leads to a dilemma when you arrange for lunch or dinner at work. Everyone wants to eat Indian. When you are the host, everyone expects to go to an Indian restaurant. When you love food like me, it is really a dilemma.

Photo Courtesy: Johnny Silvercloud

Tags: British Lessons

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