By Rumeana Jahangir
BBC News

The British have long enjoyed food with a bit of bite. And 200 years ago, an Indian migrant opened Britain’s first curry house to cater for the fashion for spicy food.

“Indian dishes, in the highest perfection… unequalled to any curries ever made in England.” So ran the 1809 newspaper advert for a new eating establishment in an upmarket London square popular with colonial returnees.

“ These were curries made with coriander seeds, salt, peppercorns and lemon juice ”
Janet Clarke

Diners at the Hindostanee Coffee House could smoke hookah pipes and recline on bamboo-cane sofas as they tucked into spicy meat and vegetable dishes.

This was the country’s first dedicated Indian restaurant, opened by an entrepreneurial migrant by the name of Dean Mahomed.

But Britons already had a taste for curry. A handful of coffee houses served curries alongside their usual fare, and in the gracious homes of returnees, ladies attempted to recreate dishes and condiments their families enjoyed on the sub-continent.

Some wrote out their own recipes; others may have used one of the many editions of Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery, first published in 1747, which contained recipes for curries and pilaus.

“The first recipes were very mild, using more herbs than spices,” says antiquarian bookseller Janet Clarke, who specialises in gastronomic titles. “These were curries and pilaus made with coriander seeds, salt, peppercorns and lemon juice.”

By the 19th Century, ginger, cayenne, turmeric, cumin and fenugreek had been added to the mix. “I have tried making these old recipes myself – they are wonderful.”

Piccalilli is an early English attempt at Indian pickle; kedgeree’s origins are more ambiguous, but this colonial-era dish uses Indian spices.

Food historian Ivan Day says cooking methods also differed. “The British didn’t really get the idea of frying the meat in ghee or another fat. Rather than the fresh spices available in India, these had been on a boat for half a year.”

Spicy mix

Peter Groves, co-founder of National Curry Week, which started on Sunday, says the Western taste for spicy foods developed centuries earlier. “All the spices of the East came back with the people who fought in the Crusades.”

OED DEFINITION OF MASALA
# A mixture of ground spices, sometimes blended with water or vinegar to make a paste, used in Indian cookery
# A person who or thing which comprises a highly varied mixture of elements
# Indian English: Piquancy, pep, vigour, excitement

The lucrative spice trade prompted various European powers to establish their presence in India, either through trading companies or colonisation.

This “masala” of cultures, and the Mughal conquest of India, resulted in hybrid creations, including Persian-inspired biryani and vindaloo, a Goan version of a Portuguese meat dish.

Indians tend to label dishes by specific names like korma and dopiaza. “Curry is a catch-all term,” says Dr Lizzie Collingham, author of Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors. “It’s easy shorthand for ‘what Indians eat’.”

One theory suggests the word comes “kari”, Tamil for sauce. However, an English cookbook, The Forme of Cury, was published in the 1390s. (Read it online with)

“All hot food of the time was referred to as cury. It came from the French word ‘cuire’ which means to cook.”

Exotic tastes

A 19th Century account records the British in India eating curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Yet within three years of opening the Hindostanee in London, its proprietor, Mr Mahomed, applied for bankruptcy.

“It was a good restaurant but the climate was wrong,” says Mr Groves. “People didn’t go out to eat then. They tended to have their own chef or do cooking at home.”

The restaurant carried on until 1833, but under different ownership.

The British enthusiasm for all things Indian spread to the expanding middle classes over the 19th Century.

“Queen Victoria made it very fashionable, as she had an Indian staff who cooked Indian food every day,” says Mr Day. At Osborne House, Victoria – the Empress of India – built an Indian-themed state room decorated by an eminent architect of the Punjab.

CURRY SCENE in VANITY FAIR “Give Miss Sharp some curry, my dear,” said Mr Sedley, laughing. Rebecca had never tasted the dish before. “Do you find it as good as everything else from India?” said Mr. Sedley. “Oh, excellent!” said Rebecca, who was suffering tortures with the cayenne pepper. “Try a chili with it, Miss Sharp,” said Joseph, really interested. “A chili,” said Rebecca, gasping. “Oh yes!” She thought a chili was something cool, as its name imported, and was served with some. “How fresh and green they look,” she said, and put one into her mouth.

Curry became so popular, an 1852 cookbook stated “few dinners are thought complete unless one is on the table”. Novelist William Thackeray – who was born in Calcutta – penned a Poem to Curry, and inflicted a blisteringly hot curry on his anti-heroine Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair.

But the interest in curry cooled after 1857 when Indian soldiers rebelled against British rule in the subcontinent.

“[Curry's popularity] recovered by the 1870s when Prime Minister Disraeli decided to make empire a part of his politics,” says Dr Collingham.

India became the brightest jewel in the crown, but Mr Groves says British culinary interests were turning from East to West. “Everyone who was anybody had French chefs.”

Curry and chips

“At the beginning of the 20th Century, curry was not very popular,” says Dr Collingham. “It was not well-to-do to have a house that smells of curry.”

Instead, the British diet was dominated by red meat, accompanied by home-grown vegetables such as cabbage and potatoes.

At the same time, a number of Indian sailors jumped ship or were dumped at major ports including Cardiff and London. These seamen from Sylhet – now a region in Bangladesh – opened cafes, mainly to cater for fellow Asians.

“They were self-taught but they cleverly adapted themselves to the British palate,” says Mr Groves.

And in the 1940s, they bought bombed-out chippies and cafes, says Ms Collingham, selling curry and rice alongside fish, pies and chips. “They stayed open really late to make money to catch the after-pub trade.”

And so the ritual of the post-pub curry was born.

“It took quite a long time for the British to recover from World War II,” says Ms Collingham. “They were willing and more open to try new things.”

After 1971, there was an influx of Bangladeshis following war in their homeland, particularly to London’s rundown East End. Many entered the catering trade, and today they dominate the curry industry.

“They own 65-75% of the Indian restaurants in the country. Without their input and hard work, we wouldn’t have the curry industry that we have today,” says Mr Groves.

An industry so popular the then foreign secretary Robin Cook described chicken tikka masala as “a true British national dish” – and yet another example of an Indian recipe modified for British tastes.

Ms Collingham says ultimately, the British love affair with curry boils down to the imagined glamour of the Raj.

“India has a certain magic because of the colonial relationship.”

Additional reporting by Megan Lane

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8370054.stm

A Community in Transition
By PATRICK MALONEY.
Last Updated: 23rd November 2009, 3:29am

The neighbourhood has the goods – heritage buildings, river frontage and proximity to the downtown – to ensure a bright future, writes Free Press reporter Patrick Maloney. “The rest of the city is realizing this is a little gem here,” says one councillor whose ward includes the area.

—

Grid-pattern streets. Significant heritage buildings. A major intersection. The spectre of riverfront development.

For London’s urban designer, SoHo — a neighbourhood just south of downtown that’s gaining renewed prominence at city hall — has all the components to enjoy a major renaissance during the coming decades.

“They’ve got a real opportunity to become a really central place . . . to mimic what’s going on downtown,” said Sean Galloway, who works in city hall’s planning department.

Galloway and his colleagues are leading the creation of Roadmap SoHo, essentially a blueprint for what the neighbourhood could become and the steps the city needs to take to get it there.

A draft of the plan could be complete by February or March.

But in addition to the physical components that hold such potential, the community’s residents are proving to be a major building block — actively involved in the roadmap’s creation and other efforts to improve the area.

A perfect example is the big, red SoHo building that neighbourhood residents and heritage activists are working together to save from the wrecking ball.

The Antiquities Shoppe, a rare, all-wood structure built during the 1870s at Wellington and Hill streets, could be doomed, having been deemed structurally unsound and a demolition permit requested.

The request has been delayed, but the clock appears to be ticking.

John Manness of the Heritage London Foundation, which wants to buy the building, says his group has until year end to raise $110,000 to complete the purchase.

Otherwise the owner — who also wants to save the building, but doesn’t have the $128,000 needed to repair its structural woes — may be left with no option but demolition.

The total ticket — $238,000 to buy and repair it — is a major undertaking and Manness hopes for donations from London citizens and companies.

“We can’t do it without the support of the community,” he said.

Those interested in donating can find contact information at the group’s website, www. heritagelondonfoundation.org.

There’s another old SoHo property drawing attention — hospital buildings on the south side of South St., which will be empty by the summer of 2011.

The potential re-development of the land is an exciting prospect for residents and city planners like Galloway, who recently unveiled images of its potential future use, including cafes and stores in an area that would open access to the adjacent Thames River.

But who will pay for the hospital’s multimillion-dollar demolition — city hall, London Health Sciences Centre or the Ontario government — remains a point of contention.

Even still, just the spectre of that kind of project enhances SoHo’s sense of progress and its image across the city, says Coun. Judy Bryant, whose ward includes the neighbourhood.

“I think London is waking up to the fact that this is a place where they could live,” she said.

“The people who live here appreciate it — the rest of the city is realizing this is a little gem here.”

patrick.maloney@sunmedia.ca

—

The SoHo File

The neighbourhood covers essentially the same area as the old St. David’s Ward — bounded to the north by railway tracks near Horton St., to the east by Adelaide St. and to the south and west by the Thames River. As one community leader put it, the neighbourhood includes whatever doesn’t fall in downtown, Old East Village and Old South.

Its nickname — a nod to its location south of Horton St. — has apparently floated around for years, but was re-claimed in its current form in about 2007, when neighbourhood residents formed a community association.

It’s been estimated by community boosters that SoHo includes about 1,200 households. Traditionally a working-class neighbourhood, its average income remains relatively low.

Though residents admit prostitution and drug use remain problems, other positive developments — visions for future development, local cultural events and active community leadership — point to a bright future.

Source: LFP

Racy alter ego’s postings became cult sensation

LONDON–A British scientist says she is Belle de Jour, the anonymous blogger whose accounts of life as a call girl were turned into books and a TV series.

Brooke Magnanti was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying she decided to reveal her secret because she was afraid a former boyfriend would expose her.

Magnanti, 34, is a child-health researcher at the University of Bristol in western England.

She told the newspaper she turned to the sex trade in 2003 while finishing her Ph.D. and worked as an escort for more than a year.

She blogged about the experience in the guise of Belle de Jour, a legal secretary who moonlights as a sex worker.

The blog formed the basis of three books and the British TV series Secret Diary of a Call Girl, which appeared on Showcase television in Canada.

Debate swirled about whether the anonymous author was real or fictional, and Belle de Jour was accused by some of glamorizing prostitution.

Magnanti said on her blog Sunday she was relieved “to be able to defend what my experience of sex work is like to all the skeptics and doubters.”

Magnanti said her scientific colleagues had been “amazingly kind and supportive” about the news.

Asked about Magnanti’s past, the university said it was not relevant to her current job.

Her publisher, Orion, said in a statement that it was “a courageous decision for Belle de Jour to come forward with her true identity and we support her decision to do so.”

Source: The Star

Accusations of police brutality are being leveled at city police and the University of Western Ontario’s campus police after a video surfaced on YouTube showing six officers beating a suspect during an arrest.

But city police and university officials say the “disoriented and violent” suspect “was combative and resistant” after campus police tried to arrest the 22-year-old who had barricaded himself in an upper floor office of the Social Sciences building.

City police were called to assist in the arrest around 5 p.m. and the student was eventually subdued and taken to hospital for observation before being charged with mischief, resisting arrest, assault, and escaping custody.

The video, shot by an unknown student, shows the suspect being kneed at least five times, struck with a telescopic baton at least six times and punched by one officer at least 27 times.

The one minute, 32-second video shows four officers trying to subdue the suspect, who appears to be resisting and not complying with an officer’s demand to “stop resisting . . . give us your arms . . . stop resisting.”

Thirty seconds into the video, two other officers arrive and join the others in trying to put the suspect in handcuffs.

The suspect does appear to be resisting at times and police keep asking him to give them his arms.

Students who viewed the video on YouTube expressed shock and disbelief, although others defended the police saying the suspect shouldn’t have resisted arrest.

However, a senior university official said campus and city police did their jobs.

“Our officers and London Police officers were dealing with a disoriented and violent young person who clearly required help,” said Gitta Kulczycki, UWO vice-president, resources and operations, in a press release.

“Our officers did what they needed to do to ensure that he and others around him were safe. As always, we will examine our actions and will work with London Police to ensure that use of force was appropriate.”

In the release, the university says a student complained to campus police about being followed by another student “acting in a strange manner.”

A short time later, campus police received calls about a “disoriented and threatening individual” trying to enter offices. At one point, the university says, the student tried to force the occupant of an eighth-floor office to leave before barricading himself in an office on the seventh floor.

“Two campus officers arrived on the scene and the suspect came out of the barricaded office and charged the officers in a violent manner,” the release states. “Other persons on the floor fled for their own safety and some locked themselves in their own offices. A third officer arrived and the three officers attempted to subdue the suspect, but he was able to break away from officers and fled.”

The suspect was eventually stopped by a campus officer on the main floor “and a confrontation took place as the suspect attempted to flee.”

That’s when city police arrived.

The university release says the suspect then “continued to fight violently and would not allow himself to be handcuffed” and continued to fight after being handcuffed and led outside.

“The resistance continued after the individual was transported to hospital.”

Many students who commented on the video conceded they don’t know what happened prior to the video footage being taken.

One person who commented on YouTube who claimed to witness the arrest said an officer appeared injured.

“I was there, it was mostly London cops and one of the cops had a massive swollen right eye. Not saying this is right, but if you punch a cop in the face, you’re usually gonna get a beating like this or worse.”

One viewer said “nothing” justifies the use of force displayed.

“They were beating him mercilessly and he was massively over powered. Any justification you can provide is a farce and an excuse.”

The video:

Source: Free Press

By Lauren La Rose (CP) – 3 days ago

TORONTO — The ranks of older mothers with preschool children have swelled in the last 20 years, with the rise in later-in-life motherhood apparently linked to the pursuit of higher education, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.

Figures from the 2006 census found that of the 1.3 million women aged 40 to 44, 8.9 per cent were mothers of at least one child aged four and under. That’s more than double the proportion in 1986. And the report found highly educated women – particularly those with university degrees – are much more likely to have children when they’re in their 30s and 40s.

The study released Thursday found that 13.8 per cent of women aged 40 to 44 who had a bachelor’s degree were mothers to a young child, compared with 6.4 per cent of women with a high school diploma or less. The proportion was 19.8 per cent for women who had a doctorate.

“We know that there’s a strong link between level and education of women and the likelihood that they become a mother later in life,” said Statistics Canada researcher Martin Turcotte, who co-authored the report.

“We can see a pattern and we can expect given that the share of women with university degrees is still growing that this trend in later motherhood will continue in the next years.”

News of later-in-life pregnancies is hardly uncommon, particularly among the celebrity jetset. Celine Dion recently announced that she was again with child at age 41. Other A-listers who have given birth in their 40s include actresses Halle Berry, Salma Hayek and “Desperate Housewives” star Marcia Cross.

But for everyday women who don’t necessarily have the luxury of time or money to take long periods off work or studies to devote to motherhood, the decision to have children later in life may come as a result of having few other alternatives.

The report found that occupations with the highest proportion of older moms with young kids were those that required a high level of skill and education, including physicians and lawyers – positions that involve years of intensive preparation.

“To be a lawyer or professor or doctor, it’s years of training and then establishing yourself in your career,” said Andrea O’Reilly, founder and director of the Association for Research on Mothering. “Before you say ‘I feel OK where I am and I’ve established myself’ you are in your late 30s by that time. Then they say ‘Now it’s the time for motherhood,’ so they haven’t excluded that possibility of doing both.”

But O’Reilly, who is also an associate professor of women’s studies at York University in Toronto, said the trend towards later-in-life motherhood is a shift that is happening primarily among middle-to upper-class women rather than across the board.

“Middle-class women are having babies later because they are middle class,” she said. “To be middle class that means you’ve got to go to school for seven years to achieve some middle class professional career and lifestyle. So women who do not for choice or circumstance do that are having the children younger.”

“But it’s chicken and egg for both reasons,” she added. “If you want (a professional career), you have to have your baby late.”

O’Reilly, 48, who had her first child at 23, said she is an anomaly among many of her peers. The majority of women in her profession have kids after age 35, she noted.

She said she is troubled by comments that cast doubts on whether older women will live to see their children mark milestones later in life, like attending university.

“I’m not saying that’s not a concern but I think it’s really not the issue. We can’t organize our life by when we think we’re going to die,” she said.

“Having said that, I do think there’s other issues that will arise as the child ages. What does it mean to be 60 and dealing with a teenager? What happens when you’re about to retire and you have kids starting university?” she added.

“It’s all new and different. It doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s something we haven’t thought through yet. But older mothers are good mothers, and so are young mothers, but we really have this view that there’s this optimum and only time to be a mother and I think that’s false. “

Parenting author Barbara Coloroso said there needs to be greater recognition of the dilemma women are faced with in balancing the pursuit of both work and motherhood and looking at what can be done “so that’s not such a stark choice.”

With respect to the medical profession, that includes examining how to modify practices and training for doctors. Coloroso said she has a niece who is a gynecologist and is struggling with the issue of how to complete a residency while also fitting in time for a baby.

“We as a culture have to recognize this is catch-22 for women, and how can we change our social and cultural and economic workforce to make it easier for women to have children and have a career,” she said from Littleton, Colo.

“We’ve made it possible for men – is there no way we can make it possible for women?”

Source: Canadian Press

A pensioner has laid claim to the title of Britain’s most avid reader after it was disclosed she is on the brink of borrowing her 25,000th library book.

By Simon Johnson
Published: 2:53PM BST 29 Jul 2009

Louise Brown, 91, has read up to a dozen books a week since 1946 without incurring a single fine for late returns.

She borrows mainly large print books because she is partially sighted, and has almost worked her way through her local library’s entire stock.

Library staff in Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, say the pensioner’s rapacious reading habits over 60 years could earn her a place in the record books.

Mrs Brown, a widow, said: “My parents were great readers and I’ve always loved books. I started reading when I was five and have never stopped. I like anything I can get my hands on.”

She said her favourite genres are family sagas, historical novels and war stories, but added: “I also like Mills and Boon for light reading at night.”

She said she had read too many books to have a favourite or top five, but if she had to choose a preferred genre it would be family sagas or historical novels.

Louise Pride, her daughter, said: “She has aids to help her sight and usually borrows large print books. But the trouble is she has read nearly all of them in the local library. She still finds time to ready a newspaper every day and to watch TV.”

Welsh-born Mrs Brown joined a library in Castle Douglas, near Stranraer, in 1946 when she moved there after getting married.

Seven years ago she moved to Stranraer to live with her daughter and has been regularly borrowing books from the library ever since.

Over the past six decades she has borrowed at least six books every week throughout each year and has recently increased that to about 12 every seven days.

Janice Goldie, of Dumfries and Galloway Libraries, said: “We are amazed at Mrs Brown’s achievements. When she first joined the library service she was allowed to borrow six books a week. This has now risen to 12 and she always takes her full quota.

“Although she has borrowed nearly 25,000 books, she has never once had to pay an overdue charge.The staff at Stranraer Library think she’s a remarkable lady and look forward to her weekly visits. They would like to know if anyone can beat her reading record.”

Source: The Guardian

Tue, August 18, 2009
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — An unfortunate blunder by the Prime Minister’s Office has residents of Nunavut alternately chuckling and cringing.

A news release sent out Monday outlined Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s itinerary as he began a five-day tour of the North.

The release repeatedly spelled the capital of Nunavut as Iqualuit — rather than Iqaluit.

The extra “u” makes a world of difference in the Inuktitut language.

Iqaluit, properly spelled, means “many fish.”

Spelled with an extra “u,” the Nunavut language commissioner’s office says the word translates as a derogatory reference to “people with unwiped bums.”

Bloggers from Iqaluit were quickly online ridiculing the gaffe — some light-hearted, some angry.

Iqaluit was named capital of Nunavut when the territory was created in 1999.

A news release today from the PMO spells Iqaluit correctly.

Source: London Free Press

Willing participants invited to public park on Aug. 15 for a co-ordinated mooning of craft that carries a surveillance camera being tested for possible sale to U.S. Homeland Security


Sarnia, Ont. — Canadian Press Last updated on Thursday, Jul. 30, 2009 08:26AM EDT

A “moon the balloon” protest is planned against a giant balloon equipped with a surveillance camera aimed at Sarnia, Ont., and hovering across the border in Port Huron, Mich.

The protest is the brainchild of Eli Martin, a musician and former teacher, who plans to videotape the event and post it on YouTube. Mr. Martin says “no cheeks will be turned away,” adding the dirigible launched last week shows a lack of respect for Canadian sovereignty.

The balloon is shaped like an airplane wing and carries a $1 million camera sensitive enough, U.S. officials say, to read the name of a ship from about 14 kilometres away. Sierra Nevada Corp. is testing it at the St. Clair River boundary and hopes to sell the technology to U.S. Homeland Security.

Mr. Martin said willing participants are invited to Sarnia’s Centennial Park on Aug. 15 for a co-ordinated mooning of the aircraft at 5 p.m. He said the U.S. government already has armed ships and helicopters patrolling the border at Sarnia and is preparing to install a series of surveillance towers on the river between Sarnia and Walpole Island.

“Why do they need a camera that can go nine miles?” he asked. “It’s redundant, it’s potentially invasive, and I don’t trust that technology with anybody.”

Mr. Martin said Canadians are known for their sense of humour and a “good old touch of mass mooning is the way to deal with this.”

Source: Globe and Mail

Fri, July 17, 2009
By JOE BELANGER, LONDON FREE PRESS

Police say a suspected drunk driver in Lambton County arrested Thursday stopped at a stranger’s home and went inside to relieve himself as two teenagers home alone fled running.

Around 9 p.m., Lambton OPP said they received reports of a car being driven erratically on Egremont Road in Plympton-Wyoming Township.

An officer located the 1984 blue Dodge Caravan on Oil Heritage Road, activated the cruiser’s emergency lights and followed the van until it turned west on Aberarder Line.

Police said the van was being driven slowly and the officer pulled in front of it, forcing the driver to stop.

The 28-year-old Barrie man was arrested and police say tests showed he had three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. As well, police said they found open liquor in the van, which they discovered had been stolen in Sarnia earlier in the day.

Click here to find out more!

“It was also found that shortly before being stopped by police, the same man had entered a home unannounced on Egremont Road, to use the washroom,” said Const. John Reurink.

“The two teens that were home alone ran from the residence.”

Joseph Durkee is charged with impaired driving, being unlawfully in a dwelling, theft under $5,000, possession of stolen property and breach of probation.

Joe Belanger is a Free Press reporter.

Source: London Free Press

Thu, June 25, 2009
By ELIZABETH THOMPSON, Sun Media

OTTAWA — The number of Canadians who say immigration has a positive effect on their community has dropped “noticeably” over the past two years and is now at the lowest level since the government started tracking attitudes in 2004.

A public opinion poll conducted for the immigration department earlier this year found there is still strong support among most Canadians for immigration and most Canadians consider immigration beneficial. But it also showed signs that support might be slipping.

The last time the department conducted a tracking poll in August 2007, 59% of respondents said immigration had a very positive or somewhat positive impact on their community compared to 50 per cent in January 2009.

The poll also showed a slight drop in the belief that cultural diversity strengthens Canadian culture. While a majority of Canadians, 55%, agreed with it, that was down from a high of 61% in July 2004.

The poll also found a shift when it came to the challenges that newcomers face. The number of respondents who identified employment as a top challenge rose to its highest level since they started tracking it in 2005. While language was cited as a top challenge, those who cited employment rose to 40% from 15% in November 2006.

Click here to find out more!

In general, the more educated the respondents, the more they favoured immigration. The poll also found regional differences, with residents of Ontario (32%) and Alberta (29%) more likely to think too many immigrants are coming to Canada versus Atlantic Canada where only 16% felt that way.

The poll showed 82% supported allowing temporary workers to gain permanent resident status once they have worked in Canada a few years but little sympathy for undocumented or illegal immigrants. The poll found 67% believe undocumented workers should be deported — with Alberta coming in highest at 74%.

The poll, conducted Jan. 16-31, is considered accurate to within 2.8%, 19 times out of 20.

elizabeth.thompson@sunmedia.ca

Source: Free Press