ZEENAT MOORAD: Don’t touch my rooibos
There is a close relationship between food and national identity
Let’s agree on the only thing we can, really. Done well, hummus, chicken tikka masala and the flat white are life-altering culinary inventions.What there will be no agreement on is the provenance of this trio. Laying claim to them has become a matter of patriotism and cultural identity.Chicken tikka masala, declared by the late UK foreign secretary Robin Cook to be Britain’s national dish, is now said to have originated in an Indian restaurant in Glasgow, Scotland. Historians of the Mughal Empire are not inclined to agree.Hummus, that most political Middle Eastern dip, is claimed by all and owned by none.And who it was that coined the term for an espresso with microfoamed milk is the latest in an ever-growing list of things that Australians and New Zealanders fight over.That list, if you’re interested, dear reader, includes rugby, Russell Crowe and pavlova.When it comes to the long and fraught histories of food items, some scores have been settled. After a dispute that has lasted 14...
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