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Food culture in Britain has changed greatly since the 1960's in many ways and for many reasons. Taste in food in the UK has changed considerably and now tends towards food that is more exotic. One only has to look at an extensive and regular recent survey of the British people's favourite dish to realize how much tastes have altered; chicken tikka masala came top over and above the ubiquitous fish and chips, which had always been the favourite in previous surveys.

People from many lands have migrated to the United Kingdom and have opened restaurants. Probably the first exotic food many people tried was Chinese food and the myriad of different tastes excited the British palate. All food in Britain after the Second World War was bland and unexciting and, in any case, ordinary people rarely went to a restaurant to eat. Food rationing did not completely end until 1953 and the British diet had become very plain during the years of shortages.

Before 1970, not many ordinary Brits could afford to travel abroad and, so the vast majority was not exposed to different flavours and tastes. Since the advent of the cheap package holiday and cheaper flights to further destinations many British people take holidays in all sorts of places and, of course, wish to recreate the dishes that they tried on holiday at home.

Another reason why food culture changed was that increasing numbers of Women going out to work and in recent years the need for two full time incomes per household meant that there was less time to cook and the advent of convenience food and microwave ovens has meant that less people cook food from scratch. Less people know how to cook properly any more. Successive British governments have overloaded the school timetable so cookery was squeezed out in many secondary schools and in any case, food technology, which concentrates on the food industry more than cookery, is studied rather than proper Home Economics.

Children cannot learn to cook at home if their mothers have never learnt to cook. However, with the obesity problem becoming widespread Parliament is concerned that people do not know how to cook and it now looks as if proper cookery and nutrition will again be taught in Britain's schools. A Parliamentary select committee was shocked to hear evidence recently that some households were dining on take away meals five or even six days a week.

It seems likely in these straitened economic times adults will need to be able to cook healthy and economic meals again. Perhaps the trend towards plastic food and take away food will be reversed and the UK will rediscover its rich and varied food traditions, and further find that the dishes that they buy from the take away can be more economically cooked at home and taste just as good. A wok can be just as quick as a microwave oven and one can always use the microwave to cook the rice.

There is hope that the culture of British food may return. It will be further enhanced by the dishes that people have tried whilst on holidays abroad and the dishes that immigrants have introduced into the British culture and that the British have readily embraced. However, the British should not forget their own very rich food culture. Proper cookery skills are something that everyone will need at some time in their life and should learn both at home and at school. Cookery should not be an additional extra but recognized as an important and necessary life skill, then perhaps cookery would be as revered in Britain as it is in France or Italy.

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