How Asia made its recognition in the British Lives

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How Asia Made its Recognition in British Lives

The tradition of tea drinking began in China and it became a popular practice there. Even though containers for tea have been found in tombs dating from the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), it was under the Tang dynasty (618-906 AD), that tea became securely established as the national beverage of China. (UK Tea & Infusion Association). It had not been even heard of in the west in this period.

On 23 September 1658, the London republican newspaper Mercurius Politicus carried the first advert for tea in the British isles, announcing that a “China drink called by the Chinese, Tcha, by other Nations Tay alias Tee” was available in a coffee house in the city (Khaleeli, 2016). This was the first tea brought to Britain by the East India Company. It was an expensive product, accessible to the upper-class and often kept under lock and key (Lemm, 2019). Shortly after, the wife (Catherine of Braganza) of the Charles II became tea addict and she turned it into a fashionable drink (Khaleeli, 2016).

It was not until the mid-19th century that the notion of ‘afternoon tea’ first appeared. Afternoon tea was introduced in England by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, in the year 1840. In the 1880s, upper-class and society women would change into long gowns, gloves and hats for their afternoon tea which was usually served in the drawing room between four and five o'clock (Johnson, 2015). 


By the mid-18th century, tea had become the country’s most popular drink – pushing ale and gin from their place in British hearts (Khaleeli, 2016). After a while, the first tea shop for ladies opened in 1717 by Thomas Twining and slowly tea shops began to appear throughout England making the drinking of teas available to everyone.

The British further developed their love of teas during the years of the British Empire in India (Lemm, 2019). East India Company produced tea commercially in Assam, South India and Ceylon(now in Sri Lanka). The image below is an advertisement for tea featuring a beautiful tea plantation worker. (Nasta, Stadtler, & Visram, n.d.) .


How Curries became one of the special foods in Britain





Laxmishanker Pathak and his wife, Shanta Gaury were founders of the food revolution that made Indian cuisine one of Britain’s most popular cuisines. This family started making snacks and sweets and ended up by founding “the Patak’s” the biggest Indian food brand in Britain and the most successful “Asian food empires”. Due to difficult circumstances in India they were forced to leave the home country and in 1956 moved to London. The family was struggling financially and the only possibility to survive was to start Indian sweets and snacks business. It was the time as well when the Asian food market was flourishing in London and Asian food was on-demand so they started making sweets and samosas in a small tiny kitchen in Kentish Town.




It was not that easy to start up and run the business at the beginning and in 1962 due to complaints of neighbours about smells and noise they moved out of London to Northamptonshire where they set up a small factory…Within following next years they were supplying London Indian community as well as a growing amount of Asian restaurants in Britain with ready-made sauces, chutneys, sweets, snacks and spices. Ready-made sauces were especially valuable for restaurants because all cooks were not experienced. The business was growing and flourishing having supplied not only individuals and restaurants but shops, businesses and even Indian high commission as well. 
After retirement, Laxmishanker and Shanta handed over the business to their son Kirit and set up a charity donating millions of pounds to health and education in India and Britain. Today Patak’s supply curry pastes, chutneys, pickles for 90% of Britain’s 10,000 Indian restaurants and around 40 countries around the world, including India.

The colonization of India had the greatest influence on British culture



Even the Royals Love Curries!

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