The land of fish and chips is celebrating all things curry this week.
The United Kingdom kicked off its 21st National Curry Week on Monday to celebrate their "favourite cuisine".
From October 7-13 people across the UK will indulge in their favourite curry while supporting the nationwide Indian restaurant industry and raising money for charity.
The cuisine that boasts of creamy butter chicken, garlic naan (bread) and biryani among hundred other variations made with as many spices has gained a huge following in Australia too.
From Indian-origin amateur chefs whipping up gourmet Indian meals on MasterChef Australia to Prime Minister Scott Morrison for wife and kids at home, Australia’s love for Indian cuisine has grown over the last decade.
According to Menulog, a food and beverage app’s findings, Indian cuisine is Australia’s third favourite cuisine among those surveyed.
More by Roy Morgan shows Indian cuisine ranked fourth in Australia’s top 10 favourite international cuisines.
So why not have our own National Curry Week?
“It is time,” says Sandeep Pandit, a MasterChef Australia 2019 contestant.
“Indian food got a lot of love on the show. It is time we have a festival to showcase our own cuisine,” says Mr Pandit, who took the audiences beyond the world of ‘butter chicken’.
“An ideal Indian food festival would go from morning till late night, showcasing our range of food from breakfast to midnight meals covering India’s all corners. We not only have amazing North-Indian cuisine but there’s a completely different variety from the East, South and West.”
Mr Pandit believes the appetite for Indian cuisine has grown here in Australia.
“I have done some pop-ups and embedded myself in some kitchens after my MasterChef journey. I have received nothing but compliments for the food,” he says.
The Indian restaurant scene has grown greatly across Australia too.
“At a recent interview I was told almost every city has Indian restaurants,” says Raj Sharma, who owns and operates an award-winning restaurant in Mackay, Queensland.
Sharma’s restaurant, Roshni, which he runs with his Australian wife Jessica Hogan, caters not only to the small Indian community living in the small coastal city in Northern Queensland but also to the large non-ethnic population.
“We have a restaurant speciality butter chicken where we offer a money-back guarantee if you don’t love it. In seven years, we’ve never had to refund a single person,” says Raj.
Raj says there’s a growing appetite to try out new dishes too, and people are open and very receptive to dishes they have never heard of.
“Our staff has educated people who come to our restaurant about different Indian food offerings and many have moved from butter chicken to korma and to goat curries,” he says.
But this award-winning restaurateur believes Australia is "not yet ready" to have a day or a week to celebrate the cuisine.
“The appetite is definitely growing. So many of our customers do not demand ‘mild’ food anymore. Their spice-tolerance has grown and they seem to enjoy it but we still have some years to go before we have our own national curry week,” Raj says.
Jessica draws a parallel with the Chinese community and cuisine in Australia.
Raj Sharma and Jessica Hogan of Roshni Indian Restaurant Source: Supplied
“The community is only now celebrating Chinese New Year at a grand scale. There needs to be equal if not more awareness about the Indian culture for Indian cuisine to flourish,” she says.
“It is not merely food. It is our culture. The more people know about our culture, the more they are likely to enjoy our food,” says Raj.
But the couple is hopeful the day won’t be long before Australia marks its own ‘Curry Week’.
“Seven years ago, when we started, people preferred taking out hot boxes from fast food joints. After having tasted freshly made food, so many have said, ‘why did we order those hot boxes’?
“I grew up only having pasta. My daughter is just five and she loves butter chicken. It is changing, slowly and gradually,” says Jessica.
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