The English Blog

How Britain got the hots for curry

The BBC News Magazine has an interesting article on how curry came to be such a popular dish in Britain.

The British have long enjoyed food with a bit of bite. And 200 years ago, an Indian migrant opened Britain's first curry house to cater for the fashion for spicy food. "Indian dishes, in the highest perfection… unequalled to any curries ever made in England." So ran the 1809 newspaper advert for a new eating establishment in an upmarket London square popular with colonial returnees.

Diners at the Hindostanee Coffee House could smoke hookah pipes and recline on bamboo-cane sofas as they tucked into spicy meat and vegetable dishes. This was the country's first dedicated Indian restaurant, opened by an entrepreneurial migrant by the name of Dean Mahomed.

But Britons already had a taste for curry. A handful of coffee houses served curries alongside their usual fare, and in the gracious homes of returnees, ladies attempted to recreate dishes and condiments their families enjoyed on the sub-continent. Read more >>

LANGUAGE
If you say that one person has the hots for another person, you mean that they feel a strong sexual attraction to that person. The expression isn't usually used with food but the headline writer obviously wanted to make a pun.

COMMENTS
In Britain it's a common ritual to buy a takeaway curry after an evening in the pub.

Video: Champagne Supply Up—Demand Down

A glut of production combined with a sudden drop in champagne drinking means that the wine trade is faced with a massive oversupply of champagne for sale, which could be good news for drinkers.

Genuine champagne for less than £10 a bottle has already been spotted and there may be more discounts to come.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: It’s been heavy weather for most businesses this year, but not the wine producers of Champagne. A perfect season for growing grapes has made for a bumper harvest, and the cellars of this most prestigious of regions are full of new wine. But the bursting of the economic bubble has put a stopper in demand for champagne. Britain drinks more of the stuff than any other country outside France—one in four bottles exported ends up here. But shipments so far this year are more than 30% down.
ROBERT JOSEPH, WINE EXPERT: Firstly, we’ve got less money to spend, but very importantly we’re not actually doing the conspicuous spending that we were a few years ago. And I think that’s one of the big questions that’s hanging over champagne—even when we’ve got more money, are we going to go and flash that money around when we buy bottles of champagne?
REPORTER: Discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl are already selling genuine champagne for less than £10 a bottle. So is the off-licence chain Threshers. But the company which owns it First Quench went into administration last month and the subsequent mass sell-off of stock will also help to push champagne prices down. However, the big champagne houses are nervous that if they discount now, they could damage their reputations and make it harder to charge premium prices in the future. They will also be discounted this Christmas, but by the retailers, not the producers. And the very cheap champagnes will be from own brands and little-known labels.
REPORTER: Do you think for the £10 champagne, that’s going to be something worth drinking?
SIMON BAILE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ODDBINS: Honestly, no. I would strongly recommend that if you’ve only got £10 in your back pocket, and that’s all you have, it’s not a problem, go and buy some really good sparkling wine because there’s some fantastic sparkling wine made in all sorts of parts of the world—you can go to Spain, you can go to Italy, you can go to France, um, and New Zealand, Australia. There’s so much stuff out there.
REPORTER: The prestige of the champagne name has weathered many recessions before, but the supply glut after a season of perfect weather could be the biggest threat to its place as the king of sparkling wines.

COMMENTS
1. Did you spot the puns? Heavy weather, bursting of the economic bubble, put a stopper in demand, weathered many recessions.
2. Note the difference between champagne the drink (small 'c') and Champagne the region (capital 'c').

LESSON IDEA
This video covers many important business themes such as supply and demand, pricing, and luxury goods. Why not get your students to do some research on champagne/sparkling wine prices at local retailers and report back?

Words in the News: Fad

The Daily Express takes the view that Britian's obesity crisis is being made worse by fad diets promising a quick fix for weight loss. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
A fad is an something which is very popular for a short time, but which people become bored with very quickly. • The US Food and Drug Administration is unimpressed by the fad for drinks that contain a double hit - alcohol and caffeine.

Video: How to Open a Bottle of Wine with a Shoe

If there's one thing the French are good at it's opening bottles of wine (certainly better than speaking English). But what if you haven't got a corkscrew? No worries—just use your shoe (and a convenient wall).

Video: Why Hunger PSA

This spot was created by SF ad agency Duncan/Channon for WHY (World Hunger Year), a New York City-based charity founded in 1975. Noreen Springstead, WHY director of fund raising and marketing said, “Hunger and poverty are increasing all around the world and families are making tough choices based on their financial realities. When food becomes unaffordable, our dignity, survival, and peace are at stake." (via AdGabber).

British lemonade causes US alcohol row

The Daily Telegraph reports that Fentimans, a traditional Victorian lemonade enjoyed by British drinkers for more than a century, has caused a row after an American teenager had a bottle confiscated in school for its tiny alcohol content.

The offending bottle of lemonade was taken from the school pupil after he confessed to his school principal that the bottle contained 0.5 per cent alcohol.

Following the incident, the school Principal of Houlton High School in Maine contacted the police, leading to a series of complaints from subtance abuse programmes in the state, who argued the lemonade should be classed as "imitation liquor" and not sold to anybody under 21, the legal drinking age in the United States.

But the soft drinks company, based in Hexham, Northumberland, is set to benefit from an unexpected sales surge as enquiries from US wholesalers across 30 states have increased tenfold following the incident.

Fentimans has argued that the 0.5 per cent alcohol level means the drink qualified legally as a soft drink. Full story >>

COMMENTS
An interesting example of how a random incident can have a spectacular effect on sales. You couldn't buy that sort of publicity. The Guardian also reports this story.

CUSTOMER REVIEW

Video: Go Vegetarian, Save The Planet

According to a leading authority on global warming, going vegetarian would have a positive impact on climate change. ITN's Rags Martel reports.

COMMENT
I've been having problems with the new CNN video embedding system. Please let me know if you are unable to view this video. If so, here's a direct link.

LESSON IDEA
Lord Stern's proposal has created a lot of debate in the press. Get your students to research the arguments for and against eating meat and hold a debate with the motion "This house believes that people should give up eating meat to halt climate change."

Video: Pub Lunch For Primary School Kids

Jamie Oliver’s school dinners revolution is difficult for Stoke Bruerne Primary in Towcester, with no canteen. So the headmaster enlisted the help of the village local - and at lunch, all 39 pupils head down to the pub. Sky's Paul Brennan reports.

COMMENT
A good example of a business diversifying in order to survive the downturn.

Schoolboy banned from buying Wine Gums for being too young to drink

From The Daily Mail:

A teenager was stunned when a shopkeeper made him hand back a packet of Wine Gums - because he was ‘under-age’.

Jaz Bhogal, 15, bought the Haribo sweets from a 99p shop but was called back to the till and warned he needed to be over 18 to purchase them because they contained alcohol.

‘I couldn't believe it!’ said the school boy. ‘He [the shopkeeper] asked me how old I was and when I said I was 15 he said he couldn’t sell me the sweets.’ Full story >>

 

VOCABULARY
Confectionery is another word for sweets and chocolate.

FOOTNOTE
Wine gums contain no trace of wine. The name comes from its fruit flavours which make eating them similar to the experience of savouring a fine wine. Well, that's according the the Daily Mail. I think I'd prefer the fine wine, myself!

Words in the News: Bug

Research by the Food Standards Agency has found that more than three-quarters of British chicken is contaminated with a potentially lethal bug, reports the Daily Express. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
A bug is an illness which is caused by small organisms such as bacteria. • School leaders are holding their breath this week, hoping the flu bug doesn't strike.

Video: Brits Warned Over Salt Content In Foods

Three-quarters of Brits are unaware everyday foods such as bread and cereals contribute the most salt to an average diet, according to a survey by the Food Standards Agency. Sky's Laura Bundock reports.

 

ARTICLES
• Leading food brands are loaded with more salt than supermarkets’ own labels (Daily Mail)
• Breakfast saltiest meal of day for many Britons (Telegraph.co.uk)

WEBSITE
• Food Standards Agency

Super Scooby is UK's 'biggest burger'

This Metro.co.uk story shows that the UK is right up there with the US when it comes to pigging out.

It's made up of four beefburgers, eight rashers of bacon, eight slices of cheese, 12 onion rings and three types of relish.

Containing an artery-busting 2,645 calories, the 'Super Scooby' has been dubbed Britain's largest and most fattening burger.

Its creator, cafe owner Nick Lomvardos, is convinced it is impossible to consume the meal in one sitting.

In fact he's so sure he's offering a free can of diet cola to anyone who can 'beat the beast'. Full article >>

COMMENT
The Super Scooby should come with a government health warning. Still, it's great publicity for the cafe. Perhaps they'll be encouraged to update their distinctly Web 1.0 website.

READ MORE
• Burger Beast: Could You Finish Super Scooby? (Sky News)

Video: Bottled Water Banned In Australian Town

Sky's Ian Woods reports on the Australian town which has taken a step back in time and banned bottled water, in favour of a greener alternative.

 

ARTICLE
• Australian town bans bottled water (The Guardian)

COMMENT
I'm surprised they haven't got the beer on tap—this is Australia after all! 

Video: Pig Keeping Fad Sweeps Britain

With traditional butchers on the decline and a growing demand for quality meat - there's a new fad sweeping the country - pig keeping. Ian Woods went to meet the devotees, who've been pigging out on their home-reared produce.

 

COMMENTS
Did you spot the porcine puns? If you pig out on something, you eat a very large amount of it. Bringing home the bacon means supplying material support to one’s family or achieving success. If you carve a piece of cooked meat, you cut slices from it; but if you carve out a niche, you acquire a small, specialised segment of the market through sustained hard work. 

Video: Doctors Want Booze Marketing Ban

Doctors are calling for a complete ban on the marketing and advertising of alcohol to reduce harmful effects of drinking on health.

In a controversial new report, the BMA also supports minimum prices and says the industry should pay an extra tax to fund health campaigns.

The report says relying on the industry to promote sensible drinking is like "putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop".

The BBC's health correspondent, Branwen Jeffreys reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: Celebrating the Football League Cup, better known by the name of its sponsor Carling. Alcohol brand names back some of the biggest sporting and music events. And this is why doctors want to see the link broken—a generation who’ve grown up with binge drinking and cheap alcohol.
PROFESSOR GERARD HASTINGS, BMA REPORT AUTHOR: We’ve put our children into this environment where alcohol is promoted everywhere. We’ve reduced the price to ridiculous levels. We’ve got a range of products that include toffee vodka and all sorts of alcopops that obviously appeal to juvenile palates, and we’re surprised when they consume them and we punish them for the consuming of those products.
REPORTER: Billboards are the high-profile side of alcohol marketing. Each year the industry spends £194m on advertising on TV, radio and hoardings. But the total spend is around £800m. That includes sponsorships and promotions in bars and on the Internet. The alcohol industry’s the second largest sponsor of sports in the UK. Sponsorship agencies say withdrawing that would be devastating.
NIGEL CURRIE, EUROPEAN SPONSORSHIP ASSOCIATION: The alcohol companies provide huge funding for sport at all levels right across the board, and without it a lot of sports will really struggle to survive. 
REPORTER: This industry ad is part of their effort to promote sensible drinking. Doctors want a more hard-hitting approach, paid for by a tax on industry. Alcohol producers and retailers say that’s unfair, and they argue their advertising doesn’t target young people.
MICHAEL THOMPSON, THE PORTMAN GROUP: There is a wealth of evidence that alcohol advertising and marketing causes people to choose different drinks. It influences their brand choice. It is not causing underage or harmful drinking. 
REPORTER: You won’t see these any more. The advertising of tobacco is banned on health grounds, and so is the use of tobacco brands in sponsorship. Similar arguments about brand loyalty and the impact on sport were heard then. Health campaigners say alcohol is no different. Young drinkers in Newcastle today were divided on the impact of a ban. 
YOUNG DRINKER 1: In the way of terms of drinking, I don’t think it would stop you drinking any less. 
YOUNG DRINKER 2: You get the leaflets and things that say 2-for-1 and it makes you want to go and get two for one.
YOUNG DRINKER 3: I think advertising works subconsciously anyway, so, I mean, it probably would affect the way I drank, yeah.
REPORTER: Doctors want radical changes but they’re up against a large industry that feels unfairly targeted.

FURTHER READING
• Doctors want booze marketing ban (BBC News)
• The power of alcohol marketing (BBC News)
• Carlsberg and FA agree new deal (BBC News)

LESSON IDEA
Organize a debate with the motion "This house supports a complete ban on the advertising and marketing of alcohol."