Copyright © 2016 by Thomas Gangale
BBC News online has a series of articles, "India on a Plate," the first of which explores "Why India is a nation of foodies."
In my view, the answer to that question is self evident. It's one of the best cuisines on the planet, rivaling even Italian, but probably more diverse because India is so much larger than Italy. I daresay that it would take decades to properly explore the nuances of every state and district.
In a restaurant in San Rafael, California, I once ordered a vindaloo dish. The waiter asked if I wanted it made hot. Well of course I did, why else would anyone order a vindaloo dish? Then he asked me whether I wanted it "Indian hot" or "English hot." Which is hotter? "English hot," he informed me. Bloody limeys, always trying to outdo the colonials!
But the reason behind the English fascination for Indian food is also self evident. Just set a traditional English dish on the table alongside an authentic Indian dish. Nolo contendere, court adjourned (BANG). Some historians are of the opinion that the British, having first replicated India's textiles technology, took control of the region to forcibly reverse its industrialization and to reduce it to a supplier of raw cotton to the nascent British factories; India's industrial revolution was thus strangled in its cradle. Sure, but the food factor should not be ignored. Much of the expansion of the British Empire can be explained as a quest for a decent meal. Picture a mid-19th century tommy standing in a Madras street holding up a sign, "Will fight for food." It should be noted that the UK lost its ability to feed itself solely on domestic produce in the mid-19th century. Imagine losing interest in the national cuisine to the point that starvation became a plausible alternative. Explains a lot.
Like why, living in Tonga, not all that far from Fiji and its large minority of Indian descent, I have to import curries, chutneys, and marinades literally from halfway around the world: Manchester, UK. The best Indian restaurants may well be in England.
Yes, Fiji does export a curry powder to Tonga, but it's awfully bland. Despite possessing no skill whatsoever, I am confident that I could mix together some cumin, turmeric, coriander, garlic, and various peppers, and produce better results. On the evidence of Indo-Fijian curry. I would have to conclude that they have lost their culinary roots and have gone native Polynesian. No wonder the British granted Fiji its independence. Rather decent tea, however.
I have no wish to insult Polynesians, and I have considerable incentive not to, as I do live surrounded by a hundred thousand of them, and I would be quick to point out that Polynesians have many fine attributes, but worldwide outside of their native lands, Polynesian restaurants are as rare as English restaurants. There's a reason for that: no less than the UK, these are definitely NOT the Spice Islands. It is a point of some pride among Tongan that it is the only South Pacific kingdom which was never colonized. There's a reason for that, not one to be proud of: even British seamen didn't want to eat here, and turned with comparative enthusiasm to their hardtack. The most popular restaurant item in Tonga is Kentucky, their word for American southern fried chicken, but it's a pale imitation of Colonel Sanders. Dinner most fowl.
The English understood their culinary shortcomings early in their history. Historians propose unconvincing explanations as to why a small, impoverished, medieval, island kingdom chose to take on a larger, more populous, and more prosperous kingdom on the Continent in a Hundred Years' War that was as notable for its few victories as for its extreme duration. The government became so unpopular during this century-long foreign adventure that it led directly to the Wars of the Roses. Why did the House of Lancaster fight so desperately and for so long in so hopeless a cause, at the ultimate cost of being toppled by the Yorkists? Obviously, they were driven crazy by French food and they just had to grab for more of it. If you think reaching across the dinner table is bad manners, reaching across the Channel was un faux pas formidable. Nevertheless, several centuries later, the British got some satisfaction out of conquering Quebec; obviously for the cuisine, certainly not for the climate, eh?
In sum, the infamous English toffee-nose air of superiority over subhuman colonial peoples actually concealed a deep-seated inferiority complex, for which, quite predictably, they overcompensated; it was better to conquer for food than to beg for it.
God save the Commonwealth!
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