INDIAN IMPACTS ON
BRITISH CUISINE
– Curry: An Indian Dish
Conquers the British Isles –
Outline
1
Indian Overall Impacts
2
Food: Curry – An Indian Dish Conquers the British
Isles
2.1 Definition and Pronunciation
2.2 Origin
2.3 Semantic Relationships
3
Varieties of Curry: Masala and Balti Dishes
3.1 Chicken Tikka Masala – The New Traditional English Dish?
3.2 Balti – An English Invention?
4
Empirical Data – Entries in Search Engines
5
Evaluation: www.currypages.com
1
Indian Overall Impacts
FOOD
CLOTHING
…
EMPLOYMENT
ART
Indian
Bangladeshi
Pakistani
…
JEWELLERY
TELEVISION
RELIGION
MUSIC
FILM, EG.
BOLLYWOOD
2
Food: Curry – An Indian Dish Conquers
the British Isles
2.1
Definition and Pronunciation [1]
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1995: 276)
curry /kAri/ n a dish of meat, fish, vegetables, etc
cooked with certain hot-tasting spices. Curry is often
eaten with rice […]
► curried adj cooked with certain hot-tasting spices […]
■ curry powder n a mixture of various spices ground to a
powder and used in making curry
2.1
Definition and Pronunciation [2]
Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (2001: 371)
curry /kAri, AM k3:ri/ (curries, currying, curried)
[1] Curry is a dish composed of meat and vegetables, or
just vegetables, in a sauce containing hot spices. It is
usually eaten with rice and is one of the main dishes of
India.
[2] …
Oxford Dictionaries (http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/curry_1?view=uk)
curry1
• noun (pl. curries) a dish of meat, vegetables,
etc., cooked in an Indian-style sauce of strong spices.
• verb (curries, curried) prepare or flavour with such a
sauce.
2.2
Origin
Alan Davidson's Oxford Companion to Food:
from the Tamil word kari meaning spiced sauce
Camellia Panjabi [author of 50 Great Curries of India]:
concedes with this argument, though she suggests Northern India
may have played some part; gravy dish called khadi
Others:
word curry originates from Old English as cury was the
Old English word for cooking derived from the French
cuire, meaning to cook, broil or grill
2.3
Semantic Relationships [1]
Collocations
-
hot / medium / mild curry
curry powder
curry sauce
curry stuff (chillies, onions, ginger, coconut, turmeris, cardamom,
colves, etc ground into paste or powder)
- chicken curry / beef curry
- curry paste
2.3
Semantic Relationships [2]
Homonymy
• according to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary(1995:
276), curry is a homonym:
curry1
curry2
“a dish of meat, fish, vegetables etc”
“[…] IDM: curry favour (with sb) to try to gain sb’s
favour by giving them help, praise, etc”
2.3
Semantic Relationships [3]
Hyperonym:
CURRY
Hyponym:
Korma
Hyponym:
Madras
Hyponym:
Vindaloo
Hyponym:
Phaal
Hyponym:
Balti
Hyponym:
Tandoori
2.3
Semantic Relationships [4]
KORMA
Lexical Field:
BALTI
PHAAL
CURRY
TANDOORI
BHAJEE
VINDALOO
 though rather folk linguistics
3
Varieties of Curry: Balti and Masala
Dishes
3.1
Chicken Tikka Masala – The New Traditional
English Dish?
Definition and Origin (http://www.sonzyskitchen.com/chickentikka.htm)
•
•
chicken tikka masala , n., mild curry dish of chicken in a tomatobased sauce, cooked tandoori style (in a charcoal-fired oven)
developed during colonial times in India (½ Indian & ½ British)
Chicken Tikka Masala – Facts and Figures
• Sainsbury's sell 1.6 million CTM meals every year and stocks 16
CTM-related products including chicken tikka masala pasta sauce &
chicken tikka masala sandwiches etc
• a 1998 survey by Real Curry Restaurant Guide of 48 different CTMs
found only common ingredient was chicken
• 23 million portions a year are sold in Indian restaurants
• 10 tonnes of Chicken Tikka Masala a day are produced by Noon
Products destined for supermarkets
• most schools and charities in Sylhet, Bangladesh are run by
proceeds from its sales
3.2
Balti – An English Invention?
Definition and Pronunciation
Oxford Dictionaries (http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/balti?view=uk)
balti /b):lti/ or /bAlti/ n (pl. baltis) a type of Pakistani cuisine in
which the food is cooked in a small two-handled pan
ORIGIN: Urdu, ‘pail’
Nationmaster (www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Cuisine-of-India)
“Balti is the name for a style of food probably first devised and
served in Birmingham, England around the late 1970s, probably
1977. The food is a hot curry-style dish, most likely taking its name
from the thick flat-bottomed steel or iron pot in which it is both
cooked and served.”
Origin
exact origin of the word is debated, but the following are
possible:
A: usual explanation: balti (meaning, literally, "bucket" in India)
refers to the steel or iron pot.
B: name refers to the region of Baltistan or the Balti people who live
there
C: arose from "bowl tea", a Pidgin-English phrase used by English
working-class workmen who found the meal to be an affordable and
filling 'tea' (dinner) at the end of a day's work
Birmingham‘s Balti Triangle
• Birmingham = Capital of the Balti  spicy dish was introduced to
the city by Pakistani and Kashmiri population in the mid 1970s 
bridged the cultural gap between immigrants and new home country
• vast majority of Balti houses are situated in the Sparkbrook, Balsall
Heath and Moseley areas of South Birmingham = “Balti Triangle”
• there are around 50 balti houses in the “Balti Triangle” - many of
them famous for their giant 'table top' naans
Balti Triangle – Map
4
Empirical Data – Entries in Search
Engines
GOOGLE
YAHOO
Internet
Grammar
English
German
English
German
CURRY
8,700,000
648,000
13,900,000
14,200,000
none
Balti &
Food/
Essen
120,000
967
155,000
1,840
none
5
Evaluation: www.currypages.com [1]
5
Evaluation: www.currypages.com [2]
5
Evaluation: www.currypages.com [3]
5
Evaluation: www.currypages.com [3]
Sources
Balti Experience. City of Birmingham. 26 June 2005. <http://www.birmingham.gov.uk>
Balti Triangle. Travel West Midlands. 26 June 2005. <http://www.travelwm.co.uk/events/
ptv/baltitriangle.asp>
Crowther, Jonathan, ed (1995). Oxford Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary. Oxford: University
Press.
Curry. Wikipedia. 26 June 2005. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry>
Dish Glossary. Curry Pages. 26 June 2005. <http://www.currypages.com/dishglossary.
aspx>
Encyclopeadia. Nationmaster. 26 June 2005. <http://www.nationmaster.com/
encyclopedia>
Inside Out. BBC. 26 June 2005. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/northwest/series1/
curry.shtml>
Legacies – Birmingham. BBC. 26 June 2005. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_
emig/england/birmingham/index.shtml>
Sinclair, John, ed. (2001). English Dictionary for Advanced Learners. Glasgow: HarperCollins
Publishers.
Sony‘z Kitchen. Home Page. 26 June 2005. <http://www.sonzyskitchen.com/chicken
tikka.htm>
… questions?
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