Is Indian food in the UK "authentic" or has it been adjusted to British tastes?

Cafe Society
1

In the US “Italian” and “Mexican” ethnic cuisines are, in the view of many native Mexicans and Italians, extensively bastardized versions of the home cuisines. Is the same true for British Indian cuisine or is it more true to the home country than the American versions?

Just curious.

2

Yes. Very much so.

“Chicken Tikka Massala”, the most popular and widely-known Brindian* dish, is completely invented and has never been seen in India (or, at least, not before the British arrived). It’s adjusted very much for British tastes (milder, creamier, less salty)- I assume a lot of other food is too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tikka_masala
*Or Indish, if you prefer.

3

I lived in Wolverhampton/Birmingham for a few months in 1996, and I got the impression that the food was fairly authentic. Then again, I suspect given my location and the ethnic population there (very Indian/Pakistani), the food was probably more authentic there than in other regions.

I suppose it’s probably like in America. In most places you’ll get bastardized Mexican. But anywhere a substantial Mexican population lives (like here in Chicago, for instance), you’ll find lots of authentic dishes.

4

I’ve had chicken tikka masala in India - in Jaipur. Some dishes you get in the UK are authentic. Some have been made up there and would not be eaten in India - the infamous phal, for example.

Some Indians will call certain dishes inauthentic because they come from an unfamiliar region (vindaloo is a common example). India is a big country (and when you include Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Eastern Afghanistan and Bangladesh in the general culinary mix, it’s a lot bigger again) and there is a huge variety of food available.

5

I learned to cook Indian food from my mother who learned from the Indian servants when she lived in East Africa 50 odd years ago. I don’t think I have ever been offered anything in a restaurant that wasn’t a genuine Indian dish. Mind you, in Sydney nowadays there are Indian restaurants everywhere - even vegetarian places. I have the impresssion from most menus that I read that restaurants pride themselves on the “authenticity” of their dishes. Most places will have something on the menu that I have never seen anywhere else, usually from the part of India the owner is from.