East meets West

Most British people, if they go out for a meal or buy a takeaway, go to their local Indian or Chinese restaurant. There are 8,000 Indian restaurants in Great Britain and most towns, however small, have one.

Indian restaurants serve food from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. North Indian food is the most common: spicy curries of meat or vegetables are served with rice or different types of bread. South Indian food is often vegetarian since most southern Indians are Hindu and eat little or no meat.

Most Chinese restaurants serve Cantonese food, including lunch-time snacks called dim sum: steamed or deep-fried dumplings, with either savoury or sweet fillings.

Chinese and Indian restaurants in Britain now face competition from Thai restaurants. Thai cuisine is often very spicy and uses some of the same ingredients as Chinese food.

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain. 21st Century Edition, Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 44