9th annual British Curry Awards 2013 The Curry Oscars
The UK’s favourite cuisine will once again be celebrated at the coveted, ninth annual British Curry Awards on Monday 25th November 2013. The industry at large, foodies, celebrities, MP’s and dignitaries will collectively pay homage to the nation’s finest curry restaurants at undisputedly the most lauded event of the UK hospitality sector amid the fitting grandiose of Battersea Evolution, London.
The UK curry industry boasts 10,000 restaurants and 80,000 employees, and contributes a staggering £3.6billion annually to the economy. As well as being a lucrative mainstay of the economy, the industry has embedded itself in the social, cultural and culinary fabric of the UK, with approximately 25million curries being consumed each week. As a result, British Curry Awards has become a key fixture on the UK social calendar, celebrating the achievements of the nation’s most popular culinary genre. In speaking previously at British Curry Awards about the gastronomical phenomenon that is the British Curry, Heston Blumenthal commented, “I went to India a few years ago to make a progamme about chicken tikka masala. What I found was that dishes from over here that people would perhaps say are not authentic are now being copied over there.”
A pioneer in the UK catering and hospitality sector, British Curry Awards has been lauded as a national institution in its own right the first and landmark event to celebrate the industry’s achievements with Prime Minister David Cameron fondly coining the event the Curry Oscars. British Curry Awards is eagerly anticipated annually by the industry and restaurateurs alike, with winning restaurants realising lifetime dreams through being awarded.
This year’s ceremony will once again welcome a who’s who guest list of celebrities, politicians, dignitaries, business leaders, influencers and, of course, leading names from the UK culinary industry. The gala dinner and award ceremony will be interspersed with top billing entertainment, hosted within a breathtaking setting, making it an event to remember.
The nomination process invites members of the public to put forward their favourite Indian eatery for a deserving accolade and the awards continue to draw record number of nominations, proving the industry’s mettle despite a challenging economic climate. This year, a phenomenal 263,000 public nominations have been received via app, email and post, with one restaurant generating 13,000 nominations alone. It is stated that a curry remains the favoured choice of takeaway across the nation, overtaking stalwarts such as a Chinese or Italian. Its value is reflected by the ‘Best Delivery Restaurant / Takeaway’ Award, in association with Just Eat, the online takeaway ordering service.
Each year British Curry Awards also presents the ‘Special Recognition Award’ to an influential culinary personality, with past winners including Atul Kochar. Madhur Jaffrey, Cyrus Todiwala OBE, Anjum Anand, Heston Blumenthal OBE and Shelim Hussain MBE.
The British Curry Awards was established by British entrepreneur and restaurateur Enam Ali MBE who founded the event in 2005. He has been tirelessly promoting the British curry industry globally for the past 30 years. In speaking about the event, he says: The British Curry has established itself as an international cuisine in its own right and a standalone culinary genre which has produced dishes such as the onion bhaji, the dhansak, the chicken tikka masala, the rogan josh, the chicken phall and the balti. As another example, where poppadoms were originally a teatime snack in India, British Curry pioneers recreated it as a replacement for bread and butter as served in British and European restaurants. So the British Curry industry has pioneered, inspired and continues to satiate the appetites of diners nationally, as well as being exported to many parts of the world, including India and the Sub Continent.
I am so humbled by and grateful to the curry lovers and diners who themselves have expressed their nominations of confidence for their favourite curry houses and restaurants, up and down the UK. It is because of them that we are able to discover the unfound restaurants and pay homage to the unsung heroes of the British curry industry. It is the public confidence that inspires the industry to continually do better and it is the diners themselves to which we collectively attribute the industry’s continued success.
Event Director and Producer, Justine Ali says, “This year’s British Curry Awards will be even more spectacular than ever before. Where the event has become a major fixture on the UK’s social calendar, it will surpass itself in the wow-factor stakes this year as celebrities, VIP’s and key members of the hospitality and catering fraternity come together to celebrate the achievements of the unsung heroes behind the UK’s most popular cuisine.”
