0:00:06 > 0:00:11Ramadan is known as the most holy month of the year for Muslims,
0:00:11 > 0:00:14when they fast from dawn to dusk.
0:00:14 > 0:00:19But less well known is that Ramadan is also a time for eating...
0:00:19 > 0:00:21lots of eating.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25Every day at dusk, Muslims break the fast.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Food is central to their faith.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Dishes are prepared with exotic ingredients
0:00:34 > 0:00:38and according to recipes that go back centuries.
0:00:38 > 0:00:43You might think that this food is only eaten by Muslims. But no.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45I'm planning to have a curry tonight
0:00:45 > 0:00:48if I don't make steak and onion sandwiches.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Actually, it's the kind of food millions of Britons eat
0:00:53 > 0:00:56every day of the year in restaurants and at home.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00And that's the story I want to tell you about today.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04My name is Shappi Khorsandi.
0:01:04 > 0:01:05Hello.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Today I'm going to tell you how food and drink from the Muslim world
0:01:09 > 0:01:12has helped revolutionise British cuisine
0:01:12 > 0:01:15from the bland to the exotic.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19For the British people, spice brings a vibrancy into their food.
0:01:19 > 0:01:20Wow!
0:01:20 > 0:01:23And even how it's changed who the Brits are
0:01:23 > 0:01:26because if "we are what we eat", as the famous saying goes,
0:01:26 > 0:01:31then this is also a story about Britain's evolution as a nation.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35I probably spent more on curry than my mortgage at one stage.
0:01:35 > 0:01:36Welcome to Spice Britain!
0:01:36 > 0:01:38Delicious!
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Hello.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49Aw, that's a nice welcome.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51I talked last time a lot about being Iranian
0:01:51 > 0:01:54and people tweeted me going, "Are you really Iranian?"
0:01:54 > 0:01:57I'm like, "No, I just say that to be more popular."
0:01:57 > 0:01:59'You may know me for my stand-up shows
0:01:59 > 0:02:04'but today it's cooking not comedy that's on the bill.'
0:02:04 > 0:02:07I was born in Iran but came here
0:02:07 > 0:02:10with my parents and my brother when I was three.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12It was 1976.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16Britain had a reputation for having the blandest palate on the planet
0:02:16 > 0:02:19and my mother wasn't taking any chances.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23She came to Britain with a massive suitcase full of dried limes,
0:02:23 > 0:02:24dried coriander, dried dill,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26anything you can think of.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30She brought saffron, she brought fresh pistachios
0:02:30 > 0:02:32and she brought a pumice stone.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35She didn't think they had pumice stones in England.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37She has very soft feet, my mother.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46But what the British did have was steak and kidney pie,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49bacon and eggs,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52and meat and two veg.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Even my father, who loves his adopted land,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59often used to say, "English food is amazing.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03"It takes great effort to make something taste this bad."
0:03:04 > 0:03:0935 years later, none of my mother's emergency rations would raise an eyebrow.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13The Brits love their herbs and spices.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15You could argue that having an Empire
0:03:15 > 0:03:17that covered two thirds of the subcontinent
0:03:17 > 0:03:19was bound to have an effect.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21But other countries had colonies too -
0:03:21 > 0:03:23France, Spain, Holland, Portugal -
0:03:23 > 0:03:26but none of them embraced migrant food
0:03:26 > 0:03:29with quite the same gusto as the British.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38Manchester is typical of the rest of the UK in its love of spice.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42The Curry Mile in Rusholme claims
0:03:42 > 0:03:46a concentration of over 70 Asian and Middle Eastern takeaways
0:03:46 > 0:03:49and restaurants in its one-mile stretch.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54I really like curry, yeah. I like spicy food.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57It's quite healthy. The ingredients are always quite fresh.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Traditionally ours is quite bland.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02We're very much meat, potatoes, veg
0:04:02 > 0:04:05and then some salt and pepper, maybe.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09- But here it's just all the colours, as well. Brighter colours. - Different spices.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11I'd normally go for a chicken madras,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15if I'm being honest, like, but anything hot.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18I ordered about, say 15 years ago, a madras
0:04:18 > 0:04:21and I've never touched one since!
0:04:22 > 0:04:24No, I love curries. They're lovely.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28I always leave with a real satisfied, sort of, glow after a curry.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32So where does our passion for herbs and spices come from?
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Well, Manchester's John Rylands University Library
0:04:38 > 0:04:40may have one answer - a revealing manuscript
0:04:40 > 0:04:44which suggests that it goes back a long way.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47It's a very tiny, battered manuscript.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52It was a cookery book compiled by the master chefs of Richard II
0:04:52 > 0:04:54around about 1390.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57It contains approximately 200 recipes
0:04:57 > 0:05:01that were used in the royal court at that time.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04The list of ingredients show that the British
0:05:04 > 0:05:09already had a passion for herbs and spices from the Middle East.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Many would have been brought back to Britain by returning Crusaders.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19They were using ginger extensively, cardamom, cloves, garlic.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Many of the spices such as saffron were phenomenally expensive
0:05:23 > 0:05:28and so they would have been reserved for the highest echelons of the court.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Thankfully, today there are no class barriers
0:05:30 > 0:05:34stopping me from sampling one of the recipes.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37"Tart in ymber day.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42"Take and parboil onions and herbs and hew them small.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46"Take bread and break it in a mortar..."
0:05:53 > 0:05:57Well...that tastes very medieval.
0:05:57 > 0:05:58It kind of...
0:05:58 > 0:06:01tastes of Christmas...
0:06:02 > 0:06:07..and pie. At the same time.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12You've got the spicy curranty-ness of it
0:06:12 > 0:06:15and the sort of comfort foodie...
0:06:16 > 0:06:19..this is going to sit on my...
0:06:19 > 0:06:21thighs for the rest of my life kind of mixture.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23It's nice!
0:06:23 > 0:06:28So, it seems that the British taste for the exotic goes back a very long way.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31You just had to be pretty rich to enjoy it.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36So when did the British love affair with spice really start?
0:06:36 > 0:06:40The first real attempt to bring Eastern tastes to the people
0:06:40 > 0:06:42came in the 19th century.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44And it happened here,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47in the exclusive Portman Square area of West London.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Now a Japanese restaurant,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54this is the site of the first ever British curry house,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57the Hindoostane, opened in 1809
0:06:57 > 0:06:59at number 34 George Street.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04It was the brainchild of a Muslim aristocrat, Sake Dean Mahomed.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08With an eye for publicity, Dean took out an ad in The Times.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13Let me just say The Times clearly charged for advertisements by the sentence!
0:07:15 > 0:07:19"Mahomed is offering Indian dishes, in the highest perfection
0:07:19 > 0:07:22"and allowed by epicures to be unequalled to any curries
0:07:22 > 0:07:25"ever made in England with choice wines and accommodation
0:07:25 > 0:07:29"and now looks to them for future patronage and support and gratefully
0:07:29 > 0:07:32"acknowledges himself indebted for their favours and trusts
0:07:32 > 0:07:35"it will merit high satisfaction when made known to the public."
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Mahomed's vision was to recreate the atmosphere of the Raj
0:07:46 > 0:07:49with a menu aimed at those who'd come back from serving the Empire
0:07:49 > 0:07:52and missed the Anglo-Indian flavour
0:07:52 > 0:07:55of dishes like mulligatawny and kedgeree.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59Today, of course, there's quite a few upmarket curry restaurants
0:07:59 > 0:08:02evoking the time of the Raj.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06But sadly Mahomed was ahead of his time.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09People had no concept of restaurants.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11People didn't go out to eat.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15You went in to eat, so you were invited to dinner parties
0:08:15 > 0:08:19and your social standing was based on
0:08:19 > 0:08:22who had the best dinner party and who you met at such and such a dinner party.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26After three years in the restaurant business,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Dean Mahomed went bankrupt.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31It was a false dawn.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35The British masses were not yet ready to fall under the spell of curry.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40But they were ready to fall in love with something else.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43# I like a nice cuppa tea In the morning... #
0:08:43 > 0:08:47Some of us wouldn't be able to start the day without it.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50# And at half past eleven... #
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Yes, you guessed it...
0:08:52 > 0:08:53# A nice cup of... #
0:08:53 > 0:08:55..coffee.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04The origins of coffee lie with Muslims -
0:09:04 > 0:09:09Bedouins who discovered coffee beans in Ethiopia in the 9th century.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15I didn't realise that coffee is an Islamic drink.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17No, I didn't know it was the invention of the Arabs.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21I thought it was invented by the Brazilians!
0:09:21 > 0:09:25I've come to one of a handful of coffee houses on London's Edgware Road
0:09:25 > 0:09:28which sells strong Arabica coffee
0:09:28 > 0:09:31but 300 years ago they were everywhere.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38It has to be said that coffee caused quite a stir
0:09:38 > 0:09:43when it first arrived in the Western world via the Ottoman Empire.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46As legend has it, Pope Clement VIII was under pressure
0:09:46 > 0:09:49to ban what everyone was calling "Satan's drink"
0:09:49 > 0:09:52because of its connections with the Islamic world.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55After a couple of sips though, he was converted
0:09:55 > 0:09:59and in 1600 he gave it the papal seal of approval with a baptism!
0:10:01 > 0:10:0450 years later, Britain too was converted.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10By the 18th century, London was the coffee capital of the world.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15There was one coffee house for every 300 inhabitants.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18That's more than there is in London today.
0:10:18 > 0:10:19The Jerusalem Tavern is now a pub
0:10:19 > 0:10:23but it evokes much of the same atmosphere and features
0:10:23 > 0:10:25as an 18th-century coffee house.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29At that time, the whole experience of coffee drinking
0:10:29 > 0:10:32was a very Arabic affair.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35The idea was to recreate a kind of Ottoman experience.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39People would sit around and talk a lot, people would smoke a lot,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43so they were very noisy, smoky, active kind of places.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47People keep talking about walking into a coffee house
0:10:47 > 0:10:49and hearing a sort of hubbub, this busyness which
0:10:49 > 0:10:51they associated both with staying awake -
0:10:51 > 0:10:54cos that's what coffee did to you -
0:10:54 > 0:10:57but also with commerce and with getting things done.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05To this day, people come to coffeehouses to do business or simply enjoy the hubbub.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08But having taken off in a big way at the start,
0:11:08 > 0:11:10coffee didn't stay the course.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13Another false dawn.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18It was pipped to the post by tea, which was a cheaper import.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Tea quickly became the national drink.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23And so for the next 200 years,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26the British got on with eating their meat and two veg
0:11:26 > 0:11:29washed down with tea by the gallon.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Doing their reputation for blandness no good at all.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Does me no harm.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39So what changed to make the British fall in love with spice?
0:11:43 > 0:11:46The change came in the 1950s.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51The British Empire had sown the seeds of the spice revolution.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Now thousands of immigrants from the former Empire,
0:11:57 > 0:12:01mainly from the Indian subcontinent, arrived in Britain.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09Remarkably, most of those who were to fuel the growth in curry houses
0:12:09 > 0:12:13were Muslims from one small region called Sylhet
0:12:13 > 0:12:15in what is now Bangladesh.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18I'll have tandoori king prawn starter, please.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Chicken and saag for a change?
0:12:20 > 0:12:22Yes, please.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27Babu Rahman's father came here from Sylhet in 1959
0:12:27 > 0:12:31and opened his restaurant in Manchester five years later.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35On the day of opening the restaurant, Chef said,
0:12:35 > 0:12:40"We can't open the restaurant, we have no tomatoes."
0:12:40 > 0:12:43And my father said, "I don't have any money."
0:12:43 > 0:12:47The chef borrowed him some shillings because they were shilling days.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52The first customer came through the door.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56After 48 years, still he comes.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00John Pemberton was 18 when he ordered his first curry at the Azad Manzil.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05I think it was about six shilling for a chicken curry and rice
0:13:05 > 0:13:06and it was delicious.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12You either got a leg or a breast, rested on top of the dish
0:13:12 > 0:13:14with the curry sauce underneath it.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18I think we were the only people in, the first time we came in.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23But people get used to it and on a Saturday night it got really full, you know?
0:13:29 > 0:13:33To this day in the UK, around 70% of curry houses are Muslim,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36whereas Hindu and Sikh restaurants account for the rest.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41So when we say we're going out for an Indian,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44we're more likely to be eating Bangladeshi.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50But curry has an even stronger link to Muslim history
0:13:50 > 0:13:52than is commonly known.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Not only do most of the people who make it in the UK come from Muslim backgrounds
0:13:55 > 0:13:58but their cooking has very strong influences
0:13:58 > 0:14:04of a powerful Muslim Empire that ruled most of India for over 200 years.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08It's got a personal interest to me as well cos it touches on the culture of my native Persia.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15Dr Amjad Hussain has studied the effect of the 200-year rule of the Moguls on Indian cuisine,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18which began in the 17th century.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23The Moguls were Muslims, ruling a Hindu majority in India.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27They originated from Central Asia.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30They were very big meat eaters.
0:14:30 > 0:14:31They were Muslims,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33meat was important for them
0:14:33 > 0:14:38in comparison to Hindus, who did not eat meat - majority of them -
0:14:38 > 0:14:43so what you find is that they influenced Indian cooking
0:14:43 > 0:14:45by bringing all this meat.
0:14:45 > 0:14:51As well as meat, the Moguls brought outside cultural influences into India,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54which resulted in some of today's favourite Indian dishes
0:14:54 > 0:14:58like dhansak, dopiaza and rogan josh.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04But maybe the most famous thing that they did was to bring
0:15:04 > 0:15:08the pilau of Central Asia and the pilau of Persia,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11which was much more advanced, to India.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16And what they did was fuse that with the spicy rice of India
0:15:16 > 0:15:21and together that created the classic dish called biryani.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27When the first restaurants opened in the UK these Moghul influences
0:15:27 > 0:15:31were rather too sophisticated for the customers.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37In the '70s, when Babu Rahman started working in his father's restaurant,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41diners were so fussy that they had to create dishes specially tailored
0:15:41 > 0:15:47for the British palate that really had nothing to do with recipes back home.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Korma, the way we serve korma in Bangladesh
0:15:51 > 0:15:54is totally different than what we serve here.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57Masala is a created dish.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Madras I would say this was created.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05Hardly people would eat rice.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08If they were having a curry,
0:16:08 > 0:16:10definitely they'd have curry and chips.
0:16:11 > 0:16:17Even in the early days, Babu tried hard to introduce authentic tastes.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23When I decided to sell proper basmati rice and when I started it
0:16:23 > 0:16:27people used to say, "Smell of socks."
0:16:27 > 0:16:30And I got very annoyed.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32HE REMONSTRATES
0:16:32 > 0:16:35Oh, bloody hell!
0:16:35 > 0:16:37Customers not appreciate it.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39And believe me I said to the chef,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45"Let's go back to the old, damp chips".
0:16:45 > 0:16:49During the '70s the British fell in love with curry,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51even if it was for the chips.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57But the problem was, not everyone loved the people.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06This was a decade marred by racism and abuse.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Babu faced intimidation on a daily basis.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17I sometimes used to feel frightened going to the restaurant.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19The culture of the customers were,
0:17:19 > 0:17:25if I may allow to say with my own word,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28get drunk and go to a Paki restaurant
0:17:28 > 0:17:32and let's get the piss out of them. That's what was the culture.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Part of the racial abuse was not paying for the meal.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40It's taken over 30 years
0:17:40 > 0:17:43but at least one old customer, with a guilty conscience,
0:17:43 > 0:17:48has felt the need to make up for their past behaviour with an e-mail to Babu.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52He said, I used to come to this restaurant in '70s
0:17:52 > 0:17:56and many times I've done a runner without paying,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59please accept my apology.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01That's a wonderful thing.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04It's lovely, somebody apologising. I hope he's watching.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Yes, your apology's been accepted.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Thankfully, those days are long gone.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12And I don't just mean the abuse.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20Today, many Muslim restaurant owners
0:18:20 > 0:18:23are confidently serving authentic food.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26No longer pandering to British tastes.
0:18:28 > 0:18:34Gram Bangala on Brick Lane is owned by third-generation Bangladeshi Abdul Shahid.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38There's only one style of cooking he wants in his restaurant.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45It's the type of food my mother's been feeding me since my childhood.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49Mum's cooking you never forget and that's why the menu consists
0:18:49 > 0:18:51of the majority of the fish dishes of Bangladesh.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54I feel everyone should be proud of their own heritage.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57My sign is written in such a way
0:18:57 > 0:19:00that I've incorporated two identities.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03GB is Great Britain.
0:19:03 > 0:19:09Also I've got GB standing for Gram Bangala, which is village bangala.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13And I feel proud of it. And I just want to flaunt what I've got.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Customers have changed too.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Nowadays, authenticity sells.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22I do prefer the traditional curries.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26Not like ones you can get in certain restaurants that are full of sugar and so on.
0:19:26 > 0:19:27Traditional ones are best.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29My favourite food in this restaurant -
0:19:29 > 0:19:31I've been coming for 20 years -
0:19:31 > 0:19:34is traditional karahi gosht, which is a lamb dish.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37And the recipe is really original,
0:19:37 > 0:19:42and that is, I think for most of the customers here, the most popular dish.
0:19:42 > 0:19:48Curry has had a remarkable effect on the British taste buds.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52No longer derided as the bland beef eaters of Europe,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55the British are actually beginning to get a reputation for good taste
0:19:55 > 0:19:57and good cooking.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59In no small part,
0:19:59 > 0:20:03thanks to a handful of pioneering restaurants in the 1950s.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14Today, the UK has a staggering 9,000 curry houses
0:20:14 > 0:20:17and an industry worth over £3 billion.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22But curry's influence goes deeper.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33It's paved the way for food from other parts of the Muslim world,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35which alongside European and World food,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39has made British palates amongst the most sophisticated anywhere.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Since the Second World War,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46more people have arrived from other parts of the Muslim world,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48from the Mediterranean and the Middle East,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51bringing new tastes and new flavours.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Lebanese, Turkish, Moroccan, Egyptian,
0:20:55 > 0:20:57and my own Persian.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03So this is the traditional Iranian chelo kabab...soul food.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07That's rice served with roasted meat.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Lovely! Just a little piece of bread,
0:21:10 > 0:21:12just a little piece of bread.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14That's all it is. I'm very hungry today.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19In Iran naan, pronounced noon, is the general word for bread.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26That's leg of lamb with rice, sultanas and hazelnuts.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30And this is our traditional drink,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33yoghurt drink called doogh, very tasty.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Sour or salty. I hope you enjoy!
0:21:36 > 0:21:40This traditional Persian drink is called doogh.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42It's a bit of an acquired taste.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46It looks like the Indian Lassi but it's actually very, very salty.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49And...it is an acquired taste.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53I've had English friends describe it
0:21:53 > 0:21:57to taste like salt water, sea water, but what do they know?
0:22:00 > 0:22:03Oh, that is heavenly. Absolutely heavenly.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09When I first moved to the UK, there weren't that many Middle Eastern restaurants.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12So the Iranian community would congregate in places like this.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15I'm in Apadena Restaurant in Kensington
0:22:15 > 0:22:18and I remember coming here when I was 4 and 5 years old.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22And my parents and their friends would be dancing and singing
0:22:22 > 0:22:24and drinking and smoking.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26And I would sleep here.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29On this very bench, until someone was ready to take me home.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37There may have been few Middle Eastern restaurants in Britain when I was a little girl
0:22:37 > 0:22:41but there was revolution in the air, or rather, on the airwaves.
0:22:43 > 0:22:49Moroccan food is the most exotic of the Mediterranean...
0:22:49 > 0:22:52During the 1980s, cookery pioneers like Claudia Roden
0:22:52 > 0:22:56brought Middle Eastern cuisine into millions of homes.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01I used to try and tell people that pitta was a bread with a pouch in it.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04People kept saying, how can a bread have a pouch?
0:23:04 > 0:23:09Now you get pitta bread everywhere.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13You get hummus in it and you get aubergines, which nobody ate before.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Claudia believes that when it comes to food,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19the British have come a long way from bland.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24I think, once upon a time, they were puritans.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Now they're hedonists. They're the big hedonists of the world.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Claudia not only broadened our love affair with food from Muslim lands,
0:23:34 > 0:23:38she was also part of a revolution in the 1980s and '90s
0:23:38 > 0:23:42which changed what we cooked for ourselves at home.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Meat and two veg was no longer the only item on the menu.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49For the most compelling evidence that Middle Eastern
0:23:49 > 0:23:52and Muslim tastes have become part of the mainstream,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55we don't have to look any further than the shopping trolley.
0:23:59 > 0:24:00Unlike 60 years ago,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04we can choose from an astonishing range of food.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Fresh food such as aubergine,
0:24:06 > 0:24:08mango, olives
0:24:08 > 0:24:09and kebabs.
0:24:11 > 0:24:12Then there's chick peas,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14jars of tahini
0:24:14 > 0:24:15and hummus.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Herbs and spices such as curry leaf,
0:24:19 > 0:24:23ginger, chilli and the best-selling herb in Britain -
0:24:23 > 0:24:25coriander.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28There's no denying that in the last 60 years,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31British tastes have changed beyond recognition.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Indian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37We have more rice, we have more couscous,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39we have bulgur wheat. We eat everything.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46Food from the Muslim world, which began as an exotic treat in restaurants,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49has finally made the long journey...
0:24:50 > 0:24:53..to our kitchen table.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03The love affair with food from Muslim lands has changed the British palate
0:25:03 > 0:25:06but buried in this story is another tale.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09If we are what we eat,
0:25:09 > 0:25:11then who are we?
0:25:12 > 0:25:17Food has been an important way of breaking down the barriers
0:25:17 > 0:25:21towards a more diverse and tolerant society.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23But there's still some way to go.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26I believe, due to the circumstances today,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29we need to learn about each other now.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33And for us to know the importance of this is when we go home we think,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36"Oh, that was really nice food made by a Muslim."
0:25:36 > 0:25:40Or, "Oh, that was great person who spoke to me in the restaurant,"
0:25:40 > 0:25:43and they were all Muslims. And we learn to appreciate each other.
0:25:43 > 0:25:49Of course, eating the food is still only scratching the surface of Muslim culture.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54But there are signs of a deeper encounter.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58It's coming in the form of another import from the East.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02The coffee houses of the Muslim world
0:26:02 > 0:26:05may have been hounded out of Britain over 200 years ago
0:26:05 > 0:26:08but they're making a comeback in a different form...
0:26:08 > 0:26:10the shisha lounge.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14shisha, hubble-bubble, or if you're Iranian, ghelyoon,
0:26:14 > 0:26:15is essentially a water pipe.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17By using one of these,
0:26:17 > 0:26:22tobacco smoke is cooled by drawing it through water.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Of course, smoking shisha is just as dangerous to the health
0:26:26 > 0:26:29as alcohol and cigarettes.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35It was invented about 600 years ago, ironically, by an Iranian doctor
0:26:35 > 0:26:39and quickly spread across the Muslim world.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43In Britain, it's now popular amongst students
0:26:43 > 0:26:45as an alternative to the boozy night out.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51You get white people, Asians, Arabs, black people,
0:26:51 > 0:26:52you get everything basically.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57It's just a place to come and chill. And just, you know, talk.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01Go for a curry and come back and have a shisha. It's a nice relaxing thing to do.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04It's a different vibe to anything else, to be honest.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Will shisha lounges really catch on?
0:27:08 > 0:27:13Who knows? As we progress towards an increasingly health-conscious society.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16But what shisha lounges do show us
0:27:16 > 0:27:18is that younger generations are engaging
0:27:18 > 0:27:21not just with Muslim and Middle Eastern culture,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24but mixing with its people on a social level.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28One chicken tikka masala, one chicken karahi.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31Should be ready for you in 20 minutes.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34In less than 60 years, Muslim immigrants coming into the UK
0:27:34 > 0:27:37have created a billion pound curry industry
0:27:37 > 0:27:40employing at least 50,000 people.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44Two chicken biryani, curry sauce and a nan bread.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Their food has had a huge effect on the eating habits of the British.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50And if the saying "we are what we eat" is true,
0:27:50 > 0:27:56then food has also played its part in bringing Britons and Muslims closer together.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59- Thank you. - Thank you. Enjoy your meal.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02So, as Muslims mark the month of Ramadan
0:28:02 > 0:28:04and prepare to break the daily fast,
0:28:04 > 0:28:08we should be reminded of the way their taste and flavours
0:28:08 > 0:28:12have shaped our British culture... and our nation.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16'Please can we have one lamb dansak, two saag aloo, one chicken korma,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19'three lamb karahi, two beef madras, four naan, two lamb tikka,
0:28:19 > 0:28:23'five lamb masala, six boiled rice, one beef vindaloo, two chicken rogan josh,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27'mint yoghurt and mango, three chicken biryani, six pilau rice...and chips.'
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:48 > 0:28:51E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk