The Rise of the Curry

The British have a love-hate relationship with curry. On one hand they are mesmerized by the delectable taste and the tantalizing aroma of the spicy curry; on the other hand they are perpetually haunted by their fear of “losing race” if they were to love a dish from a colony. The goal of this paper is to explore the circumstances which led to the ascension of the modest Indian curry from its humble roots to an indomitable force in the British foodscape and the impetus provided by Queen Victoria’s love for India which translated into her love for curry. It will be followed by an examination of the relationship between Victorians and the Indian curry. The paper would also demonstrate how the rise of the Indian curry in Britain parallels the rise of the British Raj in India, and the irony inherent in the dominance of the food of a British imperial colony on the British palate. The paper concludes with a celebration of the power of the curry as it reached the zenith of British cuisine when the British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, hailed the Chicken Tikka Masala as “a true British national dish.”