Until recently, I thought of butter chicken as a fairly uncontroversial pleasure. A dish of marinated tandoori chicken simmered in a smoky, butter-rich tomato gravy with spices such as garam masala, cardamom and fenugreek bringing it to life, it’s the perfect partner for naan or rice. But now India’s most famous curry is causing contention. Two Delhi restaurants, Moti Mahal and Daryaganj, are involved in a $240,000 lawsuit over which of them invented the dish. Each one claims that its founder originally created this now global emblem of Indian food, and it will be for the court to decide. But how much do butter chicken aficionados around the world really care?
Copyrighting food has always been a tricky business. Ingredients such as Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma and champagne can have strict protected designation of origin (PDO) status in the EU and UK, but when it comes to claiming an entire dish, things get complicated. With one as complex as butter chicken, there’s no easy way to standardise how it’s made – and therefore trademark and take ownership of its recipe or invention. You might wonder why anybody would want to.
