The UK is in a curry crisis

by Shayna Glick, Posted Feb 21st 2008 @ 8:01PM

The US isn't the only country trying to limit who can come in. The Brit's are tightening restrictions on who can get a visa, too, and it's really putting a squeeze on their favorite take out meal.

Chicken tikka masala is generally prepared by South Asian immigrants. Unfortunately, that's exactly who the new visa restrictions are hitting: low skilled, non English proficient immigrants from outside the European Union. It's similar to some of the problems here in the U.S. No one wants these jobs except the people who can't get in legally. One estimate is that there are 20, 000 unfilled jobs in the Indian restaurant business.

The jobs were meant to go to all the Eastern European immigrants who are now part of the E.U. Can you imagine someone from Lithuania making your favorite curry? Yeah, neither can a lot of Brittons. Some have suggested easing the restrictions for Immigrants headed for a cooking job. I can't answer that. But if the British people want to keep on enjoying their chicken tikka masala, they're going to need to do something soon.

Filed Under: Ingredients
Tags: british isles, chicken tikka masala, ChickenTikkaMasala, E.U., immigrants, poultry, south asian, SouthAsian, U.K.