Fancy an English?

[Mike]

Fancy an English?

A celebrity chef is hoping to persuade Indians to pop out for an "English" when they are hungry.

Manju Malhi is to present a 40-part television series in Delhi promoting British cuisine, reports the BBC.

She is making traditional dishes like shepherd's pie, bangers and mash, and fish and chips - with a few extra spices to please Indian tastebuds.

Ms Malhi said: "Many people say if it doesn't have chillies in it, it's not worth eating, but I don't believe in that. Sometimes if you eat spicy food all the time, you want something that's a little blander.

"I've made mango crumble, the crew here loved the shepherd's pie - they never knew a British dish could taste like that and they were amazed.

"I've made bangers and mash, the bread and butter pudding has gone down very well too. But Welsh rarebit - they weren't too keen on, it's just cheese-on-toast, they say, even though there is a fine art to making it."

To make the food more palatable, Ms Malhi has been modifying her dishes. So fish and chips is made with a pinch of turmeric and a hint of chilli powder to give it a bit of a kick.

"I have turned the whole process around - in Britain curry is diluted to make it less spicy for the British taste buds, here I'm adding spices to English dishes to make them more acceptable."

Ms Malhi has been brought to India by the Delhi-based NDTV channel to do the series for their yet-to-be-launched lifestyle channel.

"There is not one British restaurant in Delhi, whereas in Britain there are thousands of Indian restaurants, so why this imbalance? I'm trying to say British food is good if you know how to cook it properly."
Somehow I dont think that this will catch on

Mike ...

[Waldo]

It is strange that we have restaurants from all over the world but you rarely find "English" restaurants anywhere (except, of course, in seaside holiday resorts in Europe, where it's difficult to find the local food - but that's another matter!). When we and the man go out for a meal, it's rarely English, more likely to be Italian, or Indian, or Spanish, or Thai etc - so if we aren't keen, what hope the rest of the world will want to eat it!