Believe it or not, there was once a time when Brits had to be cajoled into eating out. It was 1940 and the Second World War had left homes destroyed, with strict rationing in force. Cooking at home became a daily struggle. The solution? Government-owned canteens, serving up puddings for two pence.
It took waves of immigration in post-war Britain to transform these rather drab affairs into the cosmopolitan restaurant scene we know today. That was the story told in Timeshift: Spicing up Britain - How Eating Out Went Exotic (BBC4, 9pm, March 11).
The documentary began with a pair of Italian brothers opening up the first Berni Inn steakhouse. Their “affordable but aspirational” menu tempted the masses, and paved the way for “exotic” pizzerias.
From there our tastebuds were open and Chinese immigrants thrived in smaller suburbs, with an estimated 2,000 restaurants by the 1960s. Summer camps even embraced “these things called chopsticks” with competitions between holidaymakers to slurp the most pak choi.
Millions of Bangladeshis followed, fleeing the conflict in Pakistan to arrive on UK shores in the 1970s, and creating the Indian cuisine, with a British twist, we know today.
With a fascinating story to tell, this show relied on few visual cues other than grainy films and photos. And while for the most part this was a wise move, it did feel a little laboured and colourless, as if stuck in one of those dreary canteens. A little spicing up in the production room could’ve made all the difference.
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