William Makepeace Thackeray, the 19th-century English satirist, was born in Calcutta, and once penned an ode to curry. “ ‘Tis, when done,” he wrote, “a dish for Emperors to feed upon.”
Curry today, done well or otherwise, feeds Britons of all stations. (The British use the word “curry” as a catchall term for all types of Indian food.) Most Britons, at least according to various opinion polls, consider chicken tikka masala, a British colonial adaptation consisting of chunks of chicken drowned in yogurt and a spicy tomato paste, their national dish — more so than fish and chips with mushy peas.
Curry is so important to the national palate that it has its own committee in Parliament. Nearly every town has a curry restaurant, known here as a curry house; even the village of Ballater, Scotland, nestled among mountains and with 1,500 residents, boasts two.
But the curry industry has found itself in a pickle: There are not enough curry chefs in Britain.
The Conservative government’s restrictions on immigration are causing an acute staff shortage, said Shahanoor Khan, secretary general of the British Bangladeshi Caterer Association.