Although the curry is the national dish of the British these days, back in the 1960s and 1970s when fish & chips was still Britain’s favourite meal, having a curry was the height of culinary daring.
It showed you had a sophisticated and worldly palette.
It wasn’t particularly easy to get hold of a curry though. In fact, the only real way to sate your urge for something spicy was to pop down to your local supermarket and pick up a Vesta.
This was a DIY curry which was available in a choice of flavours – none of which were particularly hot or curry-like.
The box contained sachets of coloured powder which you prepared by tipping them into a pot of boiling hot water and stirring.
You didn’t have to store them in the fridge and there was nothing to add.
The end result was a shiny brown stew that both looked and tasted like shit. And which made your kitchen stink like a Calcutta cesspit.
You May Also Like
Café-Bar In the days before Starbucks and Café Latté on tap from every corner coffee shop, the…
Humphreys "Watch out . . . watch out, there's a Humphrey about" was a slogan which first…
Space Dust Nobody ate Space Dust because it tasted nice. In fact, most people probably couldn't tell you what it…
Hostess Trolley The LG Hawkins company introduced its "heated sideboard" in 1931, but it was 22 years before…
Chu-Bops Chu-Bops were packs of record-shaped pink bubblegum that came housed in a small 3" X 3"…
R Whites Lemonade (1973) R Whites was established in 1845 by Robert and Mary White, who sold home-brewed ginger beer…
New Coke "New Coke" almost spelt the end for the Coca-Cola empire in 1985. They changed the flavour…
Nouvelle Cuisine Literally meaning "new cuisine", nouvelle cuisine was a revolutionary culinary movement pioneered in France in the…
It showed you had a sophisticated and worldly palette.
