Hot debate in India: is ‘curry’ a racist hangover from British colonialism and should the word be cancelled?

Indian-American blogger Chaheti Bansal stirs the pot on social media by blasting the word as the invention of ‘white people who couldn’t be bothered to learn the actual names of our dishes’

While some cooks agree it ‘has roots in British imperialism’, others say it is no more racist than using ‘pasta’ or ‘tapas’ as catch-all phrases

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Curry: a word with colonial connotations?

Published: 8:57pm, 16 Aug 2021Updated: 5:50pm, 23 Sep 2021

Indian-American food blogger Chaheti Bansal, 27, has triggered a debate on social media after calling for the word “curry” to be cancelled because of its association with “British colonialism” and its failure to capture the essence of complex Indian dishes.

In her online cooking show Rooted In Spice, which has gained over 3.6 million views, the California-based cook started raging – while demonstrating how to make gatte ki sabji, a popular curry-style gram flour-based dish from India’s desert state of Rajasthan – that the term “curry” had been misused by “white people” to name any dish made on the Asian subcontinent.

“Like there’s a saying that the food in India changes every 100km and yet we’re still using this umbrella term popularised by white people who couldn’t be bothered to learn the actual names of our dishes,” Bansal said in an interview with NBC News.

Chaheti Bansal, a food blogger who has claimed the word ‘curry’ should be banned because it’s a hangover from British colonialism. Photo: Handout

However, the blogger’s lament instantly divided social media users.

“Does anyone think of colonialism when ordering a curry? Not really,” said one Twitter user.

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