Currying Favour

"...whoever thought sultanas in a curry were a good idea? Why are 90 per cent of Indian restaurants in Britain owned by Sylhetis? And who coined the inaccurate and misleading term 'curry' to describe one of the most varied and complex cuisines in the world? (Answers respectively are: the 19th-century Anglo-Indian settlers who replaced fearsome native spices with something less alarming; because 100 years ago absconding Sylheti seamen jumped ship from the East End docks and established their own eating places which became a thriving industry; the first Portuguese settlers described the Indian spicy gravy poured over their rice as 'caril' or 'caree', their word for broth.)"

Meera Syal smacks her lips at Curry: A Biography by Lizzie Collingham