Curry: The Story of Britain’s Favourite Dish

In 1810, an enterprising Indian called Sake Deen Mohammed opened the Hindostanee Coffee House in London, laying the foundation of a unique British institution – the curry house. The curry industry has grown rapidly over the years. Chicken tikka masala has been officially recognised as a British dish. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Indian restaurants in the UK far outnumbered Chinese restaurants, which numbered around 5,000. Britons ate 200 million poppadums and 50,000 tonnes of rice a year. The industry had an annual turnover of over £2.5 billion and employed about 56,000 workers.

The taste for Indian food is continually evolving. Indian restaurants have broken the Michelin barrier and have made their mark among other coveted London restaurants. The popularity of curry continues to soar and its future looks bright. Curry: The Story of Britain’s Favourite Dish traces the genesis and evolution of the curry industry, and pays tribute to those who put ‘curry’ on the British map and made it a universal favourite.

Shrabani Basu was born in Kolkata and grew up in Dhaka, Kathmandu and Delhi. She moved to London in1987, and since then has been the correspondent of the Calcutta based newspapers Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph. She is the author of Spy Princess:The Life of Noor Inayat Khan and Victoria and Abdul. She combines her journalism with her love for history and all her books have evolved from her observations of the shared history of India and Britain.