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Food Industry Opinion

Calling Time on Curry - How British Indian curry fits into the culinary lexicon


Curry is a dish eaten by millions of Brits every day and yet has no definition within the Indian sub-continent. It has become shorthand for describing any dish from an entire sub-continent.

Calling Time on Curry - How British Indian curry fits into the culinary lexicon


"Time has now come to understand how and where Brit Indian curry fits into the culinary lexicon. It has its place, however it is not a shorthand for any dish from the sub-continent."
Angela Malik



This is National Curry Week 7 – 13th October. I have been debating with myself all week whether I should quietly let it pass knowing it will eventually end or stick my head above the parapet and lob a stone or two. Every time I write or Tweet on this topic it unleashes a firestorm upon my head.  

Curry is a dish eaten by millions of Brits every day and yet has no definition within the Indian sub-continent. As a child I was very confused by the term. I couldn’t understand what my friends were asking to when they wanted to know I what curry we ate home or if my dad had an authentic “Madras” recipe. It certainly wasn’t anything we or any of my aunties and uncles cooked at home.  This weird, over spiced, artificially coloured, dumb down version of Indian food became a lazy access point to my whole food culture, the word shorthand for describing an entire sub-continent.  However, we accepted it without question because it was easy. We were taught not to fuss and felt slightly apologetic about our overly complicated regional Indian home cooking.  In the last few years this has started to change. An increased confidence has appeared within the emigrant diaspora, we are no longer content to serve an inferior version or definition of our food. 

As a British woman of Indian heritage, I am increasingly conflicted by the this seemingly innocuous, very much ingrained in our culture word; “curry”. However, in this enlightened age with an increasing focus on building diversity and inclusion into our both our personal and public lives I think we must stop being so quietly accepting of outdated labels.  True diversity is inviting people to the party and real inclusion is getting them all to dance and that happens when we have a deeper understanding and real insight into peoples’ traditions, history and customs. 

As a chef and Indian cookery teacher I feel it is my responsibility to educate correctly.  Tracing the journey of the term it is deeply rooted in colonialism, empire, and immigrant entrepreneurialism. Time has now come to understand how and where Brit Indian “curry” fits into the culinary lexicon. It has its place, however it’s not a shorthand for any dish from the sub-continent. When trying to describe Indian flavours I prefer to use the word “masala”. This can roughly be translated as a blend, either a dry spice blend or a wet sauce or paste blend. It is the mix of spices in the masala that bring the colours and flavours of various regions and communities.

You can find out more on my blog post on the subject and also discover my grandmother’s recipe for garam masala. The most used spice blend in my North Indian Punjabi family’s home cooking. 

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