Then & Now | How British condiments such as Worcestershire sauce and curry powder were copied in Hong Kong but made less sour and spicy for sweet-toothed Cantonese diners
- With British garrison rations such as cans of corned beef shipped to Hong Kong came condiments such as Worcestershire sauce and curry paste
- Sweet-toothed Hongkongers copied these but made them less sour and spicy; their roots long ago forgotten, they were embraced by later generations
Hong Kong-style variants of foreign foodstuffs are readily recognisable, quirkily distinctive features of local life.
Mostly these are table condiments such as sauces, which are added to the prepared dish after serving – or not – according to individual preference. Otherwise, these are primary ingredients used during food preparation and cooking, such as liquid marinades, dried spice powders and various wet pastes.
Some had already travelled from Asia to Europe over previous centuries, before making a return journey transformed into heavily modified, barely recognisable new versions. Market-driven, trial-and-error selection processes eventually defined the most commercially viable tastes.
In tandem with these seasonings, various hybridised versions of European dishes started to appear in specialised restaurants in Hong Kong, as well as elsewhere in maritime Asia, from the late 19th century.
Gradually known – slightly disparagingly – as “soy sauce Western”, these early “fusion” cuisines closely reflected that simple curiosity about just how and what different peoples ate – and a desire to try it out for themselves.
