Seventy years before this May’s coronation weekend, when Elizabeth II was crowned queen in 1953, the British empire was still yet to be fully dismantled. Curry and curry powder, the result of a colonial, European gaze on Indian food remained in vogue, and cultural appropriation was not yet a term in circulation.
For the late queen’s party therefore, the coronation chicken — a spin on the Mughlai creamy korma of India’s medieval past, a genre of meat dishes distinguished by their use of cream, saffron, and sweet and sour flavour profile from the use of dried fruit and almonds — could be savoured sans scrutiny: was this cold chicken with curry powder (a British invention, not Indian), and crème fraiche as much an act of appropriation as the much-discussed pocketing of the Kohinoor? In a Europe, where colonial legacies are being re-examined these days, Charles and Camilla have wisely steered clear of curry or Kohinoor for the coronation. Their “official coronation dish”, is a spinach-broad beans-cheddar quiche — aspiring to be egalitarian, stolidly English in its cheese and local veggies choice.
However, as the new monarch is crowned, it is tempting to look at the irony of how in a post-lockdown, post-Brexit country, imperial legacies are being replaced by retail, dependent on the erstwhile ‘natives’. For a long time now, London’s composition and earnings have been influenced heavily by tourists and expats — of which, rich Arabs, Russians, Chinese and lately Indians have formed a chunk. Ultra-high net-worth Indians, as realty reports will tell you, have been buying holiday homes and visibly investing in real estate, especially in the last few years, post-lockdown included.
