Brits enthusiastically embrace foods from all cultures and assimilate them into our home cooking – our columnist explains why
Joanna Blythman
Heading back to the UK after a holiday abroad, I often look forward to going back to my usual food staples. I’m not thinking about a traditional roast dinner, although I’m always up for one. Instead, I’m craving homemade curries and a meal out in a favourite Thai or Korean restaurant.
Staked out on a Greek beach, I’m happy to eat wall-to-wall gyros and spanakopita. In Vietnam, I’ll be savouring pho and banh mi. In Tunisia, variations on couscous and brik are more than acceptable for a week. But, I soon start pining for the variety and diversity of cuisine that we we take for granted in these isles.
If you’ve lived or travelled abroad, you will probably have noticed that non-indigenous food possibilities are more limited elsewhere. Italy is a prime example. Although it has exported dishes like pasta and pizza worldwide, on their home turf, Italians show only a modest appetite for foreign cuisine.
In the UK, by contrast, we enthusiastically embrace foods from non-native cultures and assimilate them into our home cooking and restaurant scene, irrespective of our backgrounds.
Other western European countries do, of course, have restaurants and food shops that reflect subsequent waves of immigration. In the Netherlands, Surinamese food is a popular eating-out category. France is home to many North African and Moroccan entrepreneurs. But, for sheer eclectic range, the UK, and London in particular, has a much broader food portfolio than anywhere else on the planet.
Where does this magpie-like ability to seek out and hoard other cultures’ culinary jewels originate? Our enthusiasm certainly reflects our ocean-going colonial history and the rich mix of heritages now woven in
