I don't remember exactly when, or how, but I'd argued with a couple of Brits on separate occasions about the origin of the curry — they believed the English invented it, I thought that was just plain ridiculous. Pity I don't remember the discussions having progressed, because all of us could have been somewhat right. Perhaps, the English did in a sense invent the curry — they invented the name, but of course, not the cuisine — at least, according to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
Curries didn't exist until the British decided to invent them. On arriving in India and sticking their flags in the ground, the British decided to investigate the local cuisine, and on discovering that the Indians had far more dishes and culinary skill than the entire United Kingdom, the British decided to hide this fact by calling every dish ever created by an Indian "curry". In this way the Victorians could perpetrate the myth that the Indians weren't as cultured as they were because they only had one national meal, the curry, where the British had two, namely roast beef and fish 'n' chips.
Now that is quite a likely story, frills aside. However, the Brits did invent curry powder:
Curry powder is a British invention to imitate the flavour of Indian cooking with minimal effort.
Hehehe. Check out The Curry House FAQ too.
Posted by sniffles at September 18, 2003 07:44 PM