HISTORY OF ETHNIC RESTAURANTS IN BRITAIN

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Although the term ‘restaurant’ was originally used by Clermont Marot in the sixteenth century to describe a broth, it was not until the time of Boulanger in 1765 that it actually began to be used in its present context. Food catering establishments which may be described as restaurants were known since the 12th century in Hangzhou, a cultural, political and economic center during China's Song Dynasty. With a population of over 1 million people, a culture of hospitality and a paper currency, Hangzhou was ripe for the development of restaurants. Probably growing out of the tea houses and taverns that catered to travellers, Hangzhou's restaurants blossomed into an industry catering to locals as well. Restaurants catered to different styles of cuisine, price brackets, and religious requirements. The earliest recorded commercial eating house is Ma Yung's Bucket Chicken House Chuin in Kaifung, China where dim sum were supposedly invented in 1153 AD. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the Sobrino de Botin in Madrid, Spain is the oldest restaurant in existence today having opened in 1725. Ethnic restaurants in Britain are a phenomenon of the twentieth century but the recipes and dishes themselves did appear on menus in Coffee Houses and Taverns over a hundred years earlier. Greek & Turkish There was a Greek community in Greek Street, London as long ago as 1677 so Greek cuisine is not exactly new to Britain. The influx of Cypriots started in the 1920s and 1930s and they began opening restaurants after the Second World War. Greek Cypriots tended to settle in Hackney, Palmers Green, Islington and Haringey and Turkish Cypriots in Stoke Newington. Greek Cypriots appeared in Soho in 1930’s then Camden Town after the war and then Fulham by the mid 1960s. The main influx of Turkish Cypriots was in the 1960s and by 1971 the Greek Cypriot community had turned its attention to Wood Green, Palmers Green and Turnpike Lane. Only around one third of the 550 or so Greek restaurants in Britain are in London, most of these being in North and West London. Some 40% of the 150 or so Turkish restaurants are in the capital with a heavy concentration in North London. Turkish cuisine is also well represented in Scotland. One of the earliest Greek restaurants was not in London at all but Georges in St Michael Street, Southampton in 1940, slightly pre-dated by The White Tower in London’s West End in 1939. Kalamaras in London W2 opened in 1966 and remains popular today. The most successful of the Turkish restaurants has been the Efes Group which started in London but is now in several locations throughout the country. Tex Mex/Afro-Caribbean Tex Mex is a modern, Texas influenced version of traditional Mexican cuisine based around staples such as the tortilla, enchiladas, tacos and tostados but introducing chilli con carne, burritos, fajitas and chimichangas. Creole and Cajun cuisines, which also derive from the Southern States of America, particularly the Mississippi Delta around Louisiana, are very much centred around fresh, local produce and have never developed to any great extent overseas. Creoles are the descendents of seventeenth century European settlers whilst Cajuns were French-Canadians who dashed southwards when the British became dominant in Canada. Creole food has French flair plus the Spanish love of strong seasonings and both Cajun and Creole have absorbed the influence of the African slaves bringing okra, black-eyed peas and beans. Afro-Caribbean cuisine started with the peaceful Arawaks who first settled the area then the war-like Caribs from South America, who brought allspice, cassava and chillies. The African slaves provided the next influence plus an input from the colonial powers - Captain Bligh introduced the West African tree that ackees come from - and finally the Hindus from India in the nineteenth century bringing their own curry. In the 1951 Census there were only 27,218 people of Caribbean birth or born of West Indian parents but this figure had boomed to 548,070 by 1971. Since that time numbers have remained reasonably static although numbers actually born in the Caribbean have actually fallen 40,000. Biggest country of origin was Jamaica who tended to settle in Clapham and Brixton. The Barbadian community went for Notting Hill and Guyanese, Tottenham and Wood Green. The introduction of Tex Mex and Mexican cuisine came from the American servicemen and the tourists since the Second World War and the present popularity of all this group of cuisines has been very much influenced by travel. There are some 380 Tex Mex/Caribbean restaurants in Britain turning over some £300 million a year. Whilst public demand for Tex Mex, Mexican and Caribbean food grew in the last decade of the last millennium, the growth of good class restaurants was slow to respond. The retail sector was the first to respond to the demand but the quality of the restaurants in the sector is now improving rapidly. Other Ethnic Styles Britain in general and London in particular are a melting pot for cuisines from all over the world such that London can presently lay claim to being the restaurant capital of the world. Spanish cuisine is particularly well represented by over 200 restaurants, 50% of which are in London. The lavish Spanish Club opened in Cavendish Square W1 as long ago as 1920 and Don Pepe in Frampton Street NW8 claims to have led the ‘tapas’ craze when they opened in 1974. There is a very good selection of top class Lebanese restaurants in London, as well as Portuguese, Russian, Brazilian, Moroccan, Egyptian and even Etheopian and most of the ethnic cuisines of the world are represented to differing degrees in Britain’s capital.