Robin Cook, the foreign secretary, characterised this view in a speech in May celebrating chicken tikka massala (a harmonious marriage of subcontinental spices with very British gravy) as the national dish.

ECONOMIST: British election briefing: Immigration

Actually, the chicken tikka massala, which was for a time the restaurant dish that sold more than any other in the country, was invented purely a a way to give the English some gravy to go with this odd new curry dish that people were cooking.

FORBES: The Greatest Invention of All Time: Two Candidates