National Curry Week 2021

It has often been said that curry is the National dish of Britain and it’s certainly easy to see why.

Since the 1970s, curry houses have become a staple of highstreets up and down the country and millions of curries are consumed every single week.¹

What is National Curry Week?

The first National Curry Week took place in October 1998 and was founded by the late Peter Grove. Peter was a prominent journalist who had fallen in love with curry. His vision was to drive awareness and appreciation of the burgeoning Indian restaurant industry, whilst also raising funds for charity. This year is the 23rd National Curry Week which takes place from the 4 ‒ 10 October 2021.

How can Your Business Get Involved in National Curry Week?

• Host a tasting evening ‒ Do you have regular customers who order their favourite dishes each time they visit? Why not hold a tasting session to encourage them to sample new options and broaden their menus?
• Introduce new recipes ‒ Introduce a selection of special curries to celebrate the week. Offer free samples to customers and ask them to vote for their favourite – the most popular securing a permanent place on your menu.
• Run a promotion ‒ If you currently charge for delivery, you could offer it for free on all orders throughout the week. If delivery is already free, adding complimentary side-orders with each order placed is an alternative option to consider.
• Get involved on socials – Whatever your business decides to do, get involved on social media channels using #NATIONALCURRYWEEK and join the conversation!

Interesting Facts about Curry

Sticking with all things curry, and to turn up the heat ahead of next week, we’ve pulled together some weird and wonderful facts about curry. How many do you already know?

• The first reference to a ‘Curry-House’ in English was in 1883.²
•  Each individual in Britain will spend an average of £30,000 in a lifetime on curry.³
•  According to research carried out by Sainsbury’s, we stuff down a crunchy 205 million poppadums annually. ³
•  The world’s largest naan bread was cooked on the 19 April 2016 in Toronto, Canada. The naan bread weighted 32kg! ³
•  The UK’s most popular curry dish is Chicken Tikka Masala but this is actually not a traditional Indian dish. ³
•  In India, each region uses different ingredients and cooking methods to create their own Indian cuisine. ³
• Today there are more Indian restaurants in Greater London than in Delhi and Mumbai combined.⁴
• The word curry is thought to originate from the Tamil word karil, meaning spiced sauce.⁵
•  The largest curry weighed 15.34 tonnes and was achieved by the Indian Chefs and Culinary Association in Singapore on 1 August 2015.⁵
•  There are approximately 12,000 Indian restaurants in the UK!⁶
•  One thing’s for sure, Indian restaurants and takeaways remain a huge part of the UK – from the classic Indian dishes transformed into British staples, to the remaining late-night takeaways that follow a night out. Indian food is loved by many!
  
  It's been a difficult year especially for the hospitality industry, but for one week only, let's talk about curry instead of coronavirus. Get involved in National Curry Week from 4 ‒ 10 October!
  

^{1 https://www.nationalcurryweek.co.uk/about.aspx
2 https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/top10facts/864110/Curry-facts-National-Curry-Week
3 https://curryculture.co.uk/10-facts-about-curry/
4 https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-British-Curry/
5 http://justfunfacts.com/interesting-facts-about-curry/
6 https://www.desiblitz.com/content/the-history-of-indian-restaurants}