Sikh Cuisine was a thing in 1960s London - What happened to it?

[Guest Jigsaw_Puzzled_Singh]

Now this is about as random as they come - and I should post it in my 'random historical photos' thread  but they've taken my rights away to post photos on old threads - but it's kinda weird because I've had this photo in my collection for years (dont ask - I collect tidbits about the history of London. Sad - I know  but never noticed before what kind of cuisine this restaurant was serving. 'Sikh Cuisine'. This one is from the 1960s in Brook Street in upper crust Mayfair just around the corner from the former American Embassy. Got me thinking though - with the early 1900s British studies on the Sikh Diet and the 1960s published data on how Sikh children born in the UK were the tallest and strongest of all children was the idea and concept of a 'Sikh diet'  so embedded in the conscience of the British public back in the 1960s that it was common and rewarding for restaurants to advertise themselves as 'Sikh Cuisine' restaurants?   Hmmm....definately a thought to ponder there.

 

[Guest Curious]

On 10/26/2020 at 4:35 PM, Guest Jigsaw_Puzzled_Singh said:

Now this is about as random as they come - and I should post it in my 'random historical photos' thread  but they've taken my rights away to post photos on old threads - but it's kinda weird because I've had this photo in my collection for years (dont ask - I collect tidbits about the history of London. Sad - I know  but never noticed before what kind of cuisine this restaurant was serving. 'Sikh Cuisine'. This one is from the 1960s in Brook Street in upper crust Mayfair just around the corner from the former American Embassy. Got me thinking though - with the early 1900s British studies on the Sikh Diet and the 1960s published data on how Sikh children born in the UK were the tallest and strongest of all children was the idea and concept of a 'Sikh diet'  so embedded in the conscience of the British public back in the 1960s that it was common and rewarding for restaurants to advertise themselves as 'Sikh Cuisine' restaurants?   Hmmm....definately a thought to ponder there.

 

What diet was the sikh cuisine?

*edited*

 

[Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh]

On 10/28/2020 at 6:21 PM, Guest Curious said:

What diet was the sikh cuisine?

*edited*

 

Good question. But unfortunately, despite great technological advances, they have yet to invent a time machine so it's not possible for us to back to 1960 London and ask them why they advertised their restaurants as 'Sikh Cuisine' ones.

However.....'History' is all about decyphering clues:

1) clue #1 is what kind of brown people did people in London mostly see in 1960 and so associate that type of food with and the answer is the Sikhs.

2) clue #2 is how they needed to diffentiate between the 'halal' restaurants of the Muslims from what they would think of as 'indian' food.

So...when you put the clues together you see that the average white Briton in 1960 associated northern Indian food with the Sikhs. Hence 'Sikh Cuisine'.

[kcmidlands]

On 10/26/2020 at 11:35 PM, Guest Jigsaw_Puzzled_Singh said:

Now this is about as random as they come - and I should post it in my 'random historical photos' thread  but they've taken my rights away to post photos on old threads - but it's kinda weird because I've had this photo in my collection for years (dont ask - I collect tidbits about the history of London. Sad - I know  but never noticed before what kind of cuisine this restaurant was serving. 'Sikh Cuisine'. This one is from the 1960s in Brook Street in upper crust Mayfair just around the corner from the former American Embassy. Got me thinking though - with the early 1900s British studies on the Sikh Diet and the 1960s published data on how Sikh children born in the UK were the tallest and strongest of all children was the idea and concept of a 'Sikh diet'  so embedded in the conscience of the British public back in the 1960s that it was common and rewarding for restaurants to advertise themselves as 'Sikh Cuisine' restaurants?   Hmmm....definately a thought to ponder there.

 

It's not sad collecting stuff like this, some historical stuff is fascinating, you could spend hours looking up stuff about a single photo, I think the "Sikh Cuisine" here has very little to do with Sikhism itself but just a description of the food, it wasn't classed as "Punjabi Food" until the mid to late 70's, my dad came here in the early 60's, i showed him this photo, he said these were aimed at the "white people" which kind of makes sense.

Here's a little more information about this restaurant (and when i sat little, i mean it in the literal sense)

https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/restaurants/gitanjli-7432124.html

 

[Guest jigsaw_puzzled-singh]

2 hours ago, kcmidlands said:

It's not sad collecting stuff like this, some historical stuff is fascinating, you could spend hours looking up stuff about a single photo, I think the "Sikh Cuisine" here has very little to do with Sikhism itself but just a description of the food, it wasn't classed as "Punjabi Food" until the mid to late 70's, my dad came here in the early 60's, i showed him this photo, he said these were aimed at the "white people" which kind of makes sense.

Here's a little more information about this restaurant (and when i sat little, i mean it in the literal sense)

https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/restaurants/gitanjli-7432124.html

 

Awesome history read there buddy - a brilliant find. Thanks.

[Guest Jigsaw_Puzzled_Singh]

On 11/3/2020 at 11:21 AM, kcmidlands said:

It's not sad collecting stuff like this, some historical stuff is fascinating, you could spend hours looking up stuff about a single photo,

 

Not just fascinating but a true world of adventure and discovery. What's interesting here is that this resturant was located in upper class Mayfair. History tells us that in 1960s London there were 2 areas of London where one went to eat Indian food depending on one's social standing. The cheaper option was the East End and the 'normal' option was Drummond Street near Euston station. Historically speaking - and even to this this day in some respects - Drummond Street defines Indian dining in the UK. It was it's epicentre. And this is where it gets a bit interesting because although people like to refer as Drummond Street as being in Euston it is essentially and always has been Camden. Now......when you research British Census data from the 1920s to the 1940s looking for the names Kaur and Singh you begin by assuming you are going to find most of them living in the East End. Really surprisingly however is the fact that you get more hits for Camden than any other neighbourhood. Even Shaheed Udham Singh's arrest record from the time he was arrested walking around with a flick-knife shows his adress as Camden. I think this tells us something about Sikh history in the UK. It tells us that the Sikhs like my grandfather that came in the 1950s all lived in Aldgate in the East End whereas the ones that came a generation before (in the 1920s) mostly lived in Camden. And then, when you dig a little further you notice that already, from the 1920s there was a divide amongst the Sikh diaspora because the Bhatra Sikhs in the 1920s lived mostly in the East End. And even in the late 1940s and 1950s the divide remained in that the other Sikhs all limited themselves to the Aldgate end of Whitechapel whereas the Bhatras were concentrated more in Bow. You're right, history is fascinating. It's amazing what journey into history a single photograph from the 1960s can take you on.

[Guest Nextgencali]

On 11/3/2020 at 5:37 AM, Guest jigsaw_puzzled-singh said:

Awesome history read there buddy - a brilliant find. Thanks.

Early ‘70s we used to go to Brick Lane in Aldgate East. There is no mention of  Southall in any articles? Big difference between Mayfair and Brick Lane. Love your observation of Sikh who came in ‘50s and those who were there before. Maybe earlier Sikhs were Army-types??