Racist attitudes have historically accompanied Indian food in Britain. It’s like the gristly fat you get when eating your lamb bhuna, or - if you’re veggie - the clove in your biryani that loosens your fillings and makes your mouth taste of pennies: It shouldn’t really be there but it is, and it’s unavoidable.

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The original 19th and 20th century Indian restaurants were designed for English high society. They were owned by returning East India Company Englishmen or wealthy Indian migrants, not average people like us. They presented a stereotypical colonial interpretation of India, rather than offering authentic Indian cuisine. Hookah pipes and saris accompanied curry powdered beef and ale - the equivalent of Mexican waiters wearing sombreros and serving suspiciously Dorito-like nachos in Woking Chiquito’s. The menus were expensive and anglicised: Indian food was for wealthy White Britons.

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By the 1950s more Indian migrants arrived. Restaurants allowed uneducated, unqualified Indians to make money in a racist Britain, so the industry boomed. Furthermore, traditional Indian society often excused men of learning/doing household chores like cooking and cleaning – Sorry Uncle, Aunty is probably glaring at you now. This became problematic when men migrated without their wives, like my grandfather: Indian men couldn’t cook desi recipes and wouldn’t eat English food. Indian restaurants became a genuine necessity in working towns. Whilst feeding migrants, they also offered a place for fellow Indians to meet, safe from British racism. However, by their nature, these eateries excluded the – already fearful - White British. Were 1950s Indian restaurants un/knowingly racist?

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By the 1990s, Indians and their food were more accepted by the White British public – probably because Nasser Hussain didn’t request ‘chai’ breaks at the Oval. However, the stereotypical British view on Indian food was a cheap, hot, late-night hangover cure. Not hard to picture George Best and co staggering onto Wilmslow Road for a tikka masala after a night out at The Haçienda, harassing/seducing Indian waitresses and screaming all sorts of racist profanities.