How British is British food?

Since Elizabeth David first published her book about Mediterranean cooking in 1950, four years before food rationing ended, the reticence and conservatism of the British palate appears to have been in sharp decline (Mennell 1985). ¹ The cookery columns which had become regular features in newspapers and magazines by the 1950s gave way to a more serious form of food journalism in the 1960s and, since the mid-1970s, specialist radio and television, which have food as their topic, have begun to be broadcast. Amidst this burgeoning industry, interest in 'foreign' food seemed by the 1990s to have emerged triumphant: chicken tikka was recorded as a favoured filling for the British Rail sandwich, and chicken tikka masala, chilli con carne and lasagne had become bestsellers in Tesco's pre-cooked food range (The Sunday Times 23 September 1991).