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Before The War

Bluesky

proper brummie kid
I often wonder whether you could buy curry powder, pasta, lager or pizza anywhere in Britain before the last war
I can remember in the early 60s when larger and lime was all the rage.
 
Certainly lager was available long before the war, though, I admit that in th e1960s I thought of it as a fairly recent innovation. The cuttings below show that it was brewed in the UK in Wrexham as early as 1894 and served at a reception for the the british medical association at Mason College in 1890
 

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So curry powder was in use in colonial days, and lager in 1884 but in some ways regarded as a bit foreign.

So what about Pizza? Wikipedia, although I don't like to admit it, may be right...

"Modern pizza developed in Naples, when tomato was added to the focaccia in the late 18th century. However, pizza was mainly the province of Italy and immigrants from there. This changed after World War II, when Allied troops stationed in Italy came to enjoy pizza among with other Italian foods."

The only references I can find are things like...1931..."eating pizza in Rome"
 
In 1943 when my mother died (I was 13) I went to live with my Nan in Aston and I can remember Grandad slapping curry powder out of a tin on practically any meal placed before him, I tried it and did not like it. I should add I am very partial to a good curry now (not to hot though). Eric
 
I first encountered curry at a school friend's house about 1948 or 1949. The result was not good and I almost threw up and had to make up an excuse and leave. Now for me, but not my other half, it's a favourite meal, though like Eric, I don't like it too hot. Now she loves lamb, but I can't bear the smell of lamb cooking, so I can guarantee on those days that I will get a chicken curry!

Maurice
 
crikey maurice i didnt think currys were around in the 40s...my favourite is the mild chicken korma...love it:)
 
Hi Lyn,

It was most definitely curry and I don't think I started to eat it on a regular basis until the mid-70s after our Parkstone Jazz Club performances on a Friday night. That Indian restaurant is still in the same family today and, to my mind, the best one in the Bournemouth area. Madras or Jalfrezi are my favourites as I can buy Madras curry paste here in Crete and I can get a frozen Jalfrezi at our local British Food Shop. I must say that I could never see the point of Vindaloo and hotter as you can never taste the rest of the flavours. Korma - not quite hot enough for me! My Greek son-in-law also developed a liking for curry whilst he was working in the UK - most Greeks, including his current wife, don't like it at all!

My first Chinese meal would have been in 1958 at the Chinese restaurant near Station Street - can't remember its name.

Maurice
 
Many of the books that were for children often had advertisements on the back cover I recall. Some products, such as Stork margarine, were available before WW2 and were thus just memories for parents or unknowns to anyone of tender age during WW2.
A rear book cover that sticks in my mind from those days featured a butterfly. Books were not plentiful but I treasured those that I had and still, to this day. take great care of books. I was taught to respect books, clothing and most other things for that matter. There were clothes for specific occasions, particularly play clothes, which were allowed to get a little dirty. ;)
 
Hi Lynn and Maureece
The flow of spices to the UK has been steady from the 17 th century,
It started with the East Indian Companys trade in spices and other goods
The British started to introduce spices to there food during this period
Early cook books have recipes that use ginger, cloves, and cardamon for excample,
Some historians argue that the word is itself an english word Curry; is it self an english word derived from curing
And this came from early acconts of merchant seamen who had Bengali lascars cooking for them in the ships
According to the oxford English Directory, the word CURRY; comes from the Tamil Kari ;
meaning the same as the Bengali word Shura that is spiced gravvy.
At this time availability was limited, but during the post war period, with growing number of men,
Arriving from the INDIAN Sub continent, both the demand and supply of spice grew
Lynn and maureece i also have to admitt it was mid sixtys before i tried and like it
and like you guys i was not aware of it thinking it and thinking it was new i was wrong
and to be honest i now live on it and my first experience was from an asian gentleman and family
whom many years ago was engaged to marry his daughter which caused a big family
 
Glad you're another curry eater, Alan. Most research shows that the spices are actually good for you, even chilli, but when I see these idiots (I can't think of a more appropriate word) trying to eat these extremely hot chillis, I really do despair!

Maurice
 
maurice i seem to recall that before the 70s our dad used to buy the vesta ? packets of curry...thinking about it now the first curry restaurant i went to round about 1973 was the asian grill outside the gates of sutton park...still there today run by the same family and still very very good..:)
 
Curry is not a spice, but a sauce. Right?

It’s a blend of spices with a choice of hundreds, and then made into a sauce. We’re most familiar with “madras curry”, a blend of cumin, coriander,turmeric and fenugreek. But curry can be green, white, brown, orange, yellow or pink and they can all taste very different.

https://www.thesweetbeet.com/floyd-cardoz-interview/
 
Chillies are favoured in countries that have mosquitoes. they apparently help deter the insects from biting you. Anyway that is what my family who live in the Far East tell me.
I often get Indian food from a friend. It is based on that prevalent in Kerala which is a very fertile area . Indian cuisine, as many will know, varies from area to area. India was once a far larger country that it is at present. Much is now newer countries.
 
Lyn,

Yes, I used to buy Vesta curries from Pricerite, which was the first Bournemouth supermarket, becoming International Stores, Fine Fare & finally Tesco - I think I got the order right!

Yes, Pedrocut, curry is a blend of spices, and if you are making a meat curry, the meat is best marinated for about 24 hours beforehand. I still have the book that someone bought me for Christmas one year.

As for curry being an insect repellant, Alan, I think you would have to live on the stuff. Likewise with Marmite. Things that you eat seem to very quickly disappear from your system and creams that you apply to the skin seem more effective, though most people don't want to walk around smelling of Vick or Deep Heat! I watch my rainwater barrel here as they love still water for breeding and as soon as the larvae appear, the barrel gets a dose of Jeyes Fluid. A few years ago they filled in a small clay pit a couple of hundred yards from us, and the mosquito menace very soon lessened. That action reduced the huge number of toads that used to live in the village, but they've quickly learned to adapt and their numbers are increasing again.

If ever a thread was destined to go off-topic it's this one!!!

Maurice
 
I'm not sure, Maurice, that I agree with you about things not staying in your system. I like to add fenugreek to my lamb/mutton stews, but don't know put in as much as I would like to, as, even with reduced quantities I smell of it for a couple of days
 
Hi Mike,

As I eat mainly Madras and occasionally Jalfrezi, neither of which in their true form contain fenugreek, I can't disagree with you about this particular spice. The only meats I eat are chicken or turkey and I can't stand the smell of lamb cooking - perhaps that's a good reason to add fenugreek, which actually grows wild here! Commercially it seems to be added mostly to the hotter curries like Vindaloo.

When I bought the house which my youngest son now owns in Poole, the previous owners were an Iranian family who had a great liking for curry. It took several weeks and a lot of decorating to get the smell out of the house!

When it comes to bites, mosquitoes and cat fleas seem to last less than 24 hours, whereas the midges which we also get here are similar to the ones they get in Scotland and their bites itch for several days.

Maurice
 
Maurice, I did not say curries were insect repellents, but said chillies were - especially the small red hot ones not the multicoloured supermarket vegetable ones.
 
I saw an experiment conducted once where the soles of a guy's feet were painted with garlic and the smell came out on his breath within minutes and lasted for days.
Wanna try it with curry Maurice :)
 
Sorry, Alan, we sort of drifted from curry into chillis (your post #14) and back again. My apologies.

Eric, I don't really like garlic at the best of times. And I see that Garlic tablets are actually deodorised. I wonder what your breath would smell of if you sat with your feet in a bowl of curry for ten minutes, assuming of course that you could resist eating any of it!

But this whole subject is on dodgy ground. According to some websites, Madras curry is unknown in India and in many Madras curry recipes the use of chilli powder is optional. Yet some years ago when I used to spend quite a lot of time in Pennsylvania, the local Dunkin' Donuts franchise was owned by an Indian family who gave my friend a rather tattered Indian curry receipe book printed in English in India. This certainly included Madras curry and the recipe included chilli powder.

Meanwhile, before the war.................

Maurice
 
I always understood (some time ago but could not tell you where i saw it) that "curry" was a term used by indian ex-pats in the last but one century to describe a spicy hot food, and the term became widely used ove rhere, but was never much used in india except by those of english descent
 
Mike,

According to the Wikipedia entry for curry you are spot on, but just a little too late - they say the late 18th century. Now I'm off to bed!

Maurice
 
Ruby Murray was born in 1935 (Before the war) and became a very popular Irish singer in the mid-1950s. Her name was used in Cockney rhyming slang if you were going out for a curry. e.g. Let's go and have a Ruby Murray or even just let's have a Ruby. I believe that some curry restaurants were even named "The Ruby". Dave.
 
Ruby was a lovely Belfast girl who was, as pointed out above, a great singer. She spent her last years in Torquay where she died almost twenty years ago.
 
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