Day 5: Crisps=Chips, Chips=Fries and Fries=Pav bhaji and Aloo saag

A few of my favorite UK things!

 Fish and chips. The stuff Anita’s London dreams are made of. That flaky, crunchy, too hot to bite into but I will anyway, so greasy on the paper I can read through it, too large for a single serving but I'll try anyway, pure white cod with silvery skin, throned upon a thick stack of vinegary fries, FISH AND CHIPS…mmmmMan! London is worth coming all this way, just for that! But aside from the fish and chips, there wasn’t too much else to get excited about in English cuisine until, the entire subcontinent took over the place! Yes, South Asians are here to stay. From the ticket clerk on my first day at the train station, to the cab driver who brought me home, to the over-eager IT guy who tried to sell me a SIM card to the museum docent who told me, “No, photography allowed yaar” Indians are everywhere in this country and boy am I thankful for that.

Chicken tikka masala and korma

Shelved alongside the standard English fare of bangers and mash, eggs and watercress sandwiches, pies and pasties and every –shire pudding you can imagine, is an abundance of pre-packaged Indian food in boxes, tins and plastic containers that simply require “heat and serve.” Marks and Spencer’s refrigerated section reads like the menu on a Chandigarh dhaba! Lunch time here may include dishes that contain words like “tikka masala” or “curry” in them. Even the “Ramen Noodles” here are tikka masala and curry flavored. Why don’t we have this in the US?? Fast food to go (or rather “take away”) here doesn’t really include fries and why should it when the international fare offered from street vendors, to food trucks, to subway huts, includes some of the best Indian food I have ever eaten (don’t tell mom).

Brie, baguette, tomato and Alice

Pilau, aloo saag, and rogan josh

Don’t get me wrong. No one can go head to head with the Brits when it comes to some foods, like chocolate for instance. Cadbury chocolate at home and here are WORLDS apart (maybe because the Cadbury chocolate here isn’t made in Pennsylvania), and I actually have a box of my favorite Cadbury Fingers sitting at my deskside (for only 50p!!) as I write this, but when it comes to the more savory of victuals, you gotta hand it to the Motherland. I don’t know about you, but if I had to choose between tripe, brine and blood vs. saffron, basmati and cardamom, I’m taking the biryani every single time.