Before I arrived in England I thought I had a pretty good idea of what the food was going to be like; traditional English pub food: bangers and mash, fish and chips, Sunday roast dinner. I knew that England was a very multicultural place and expected to see curry and kabab shops, just like home. My first experience at the local pub across the street from the university was a little different than I expected. Instead of getting the fish and chip meal that I had craved all day I was taunted with the choice of having a full Indian meal. I love ethnic food, but I also love plain old fish and chips. I ordered something called Chicken Tikka Massala, which is something that I had never tried back at home in Canada. It was such a good dinner! It wasn’t until a few days later that I found out it wasn’t a real Indian dish it was in fact “now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influence. Chicken Tikka is an Indian dish. The Massala sauce was added to satisfy the desire of British people to have their meat served in gravy” (Cook, 2001) Robin Cook, who was the foreign secretary of England, said this during a public speech. 
After this realization I began to notice “Tikka” everywhere I shopped and ate. Burger King has a Massala Burger and Greggs has a Chicken Tikka pastie. In the grocery store there is a larger selection of Indian-type sauces than there is of tomato sauce. Chicken Tikka is a traditional Bangladeshi dish and is made by cooking the chicken in a tandoor. It is said that Massala was invented when someone asked for it to come with gravy while ordering it in a restaurant. The cook invented a sauce made from tomato soup, cream and spices instead of serving the gravy (ANON, 2011). The dish was a compromise between two traditions and it speaks a lot to how England is today: a compromise. Its history with many different countries has brought an ethnic variety that is even more diverse than what I have experienced in Canada. Chicken Tikka Massala is just one simple example of how different cultures can blend and interact to become something better.
Cook, Robin. 2001. Robin Cooks Chicken Tikka Massala Speech. [Online] Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/apr/19/race.britishidentity [Accessed March 25th 2011]
ANON., 2011. Where does Chicken Tikka Massala Come From? [Online] Available at
[Accessed March 25th 2011]
I had the same experience when I first arrived in England! I was so surprised by amount of Indian / Bangladeshi restaurants and that their food is truly one of the nation's favourite. I got lots of friends from India and they are happy that it is possible for them to eat their food in foreign country but they always say it is ‘ made for English ‘ ,you are right that perfect ‘culture blend’ is tikka which you can buy frozen in every supermarket. In Toronto I was surprised by number of different restaurants and I loved that each and every district got their own cuisine. I’m sure you went to London where you could experience similar thing, China Town got Chinese restaurants etc. but in my opinion Toronto’s multiculturalism is expressed mainly by different diaspora influences on a plate. Each part of the city was like going to different country which gave me unique experience. I also didn’t know that poutine is Canadian dish and that there is so many kinds of it . I don’t know if my observation is right but poutine is something for everyone , got French fries , with variety of sauces , vegetables and meat , true mix like multicultural Toronto :) .
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience when I first arrived in England! I was so surprised by amount of Indian / Bangladeshi restaurants and that their food is truly one of the nation's favourite. I got lots of friends from India and they are happy that it is possible for them to eat their food in foreign country but they always say it is ‘ made for English ‘ ,you are right that perfect ‘culture blend’ is tikka which you can buy frozen in every supermarket. In Toronto I was surprised by number of different restaurants and I loved that each and every district got their own cuisine. I’m sure you went to London where you could experience similar thing, China Town got Chinese restaurants etc. but in my opinion Toronto’s multiculturalism is expressed mainly by different diaspora influences on a plate. Each part of the city was like going to different country which gave me unique experience. I also didn’t know that poutine is Canadian dish and that there is so many kinds of it . I don’t know if my observation is right but poutine is something for everyone , got French fries , with variety of sauces , vegetables and meat , true mix like multicultural Toronto :)
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