Curry College

British communities secretary Eric Pickles, is proposing establishing a curry college to train British chefs in the art of chicken tikka masala.

According to British media reports, Pickles’ “curry college” would train Indian chefs for the $5 billion Indian restaurant sector to fill the gap created by the Home Office’s ban on chefs from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan under the Conservative Party’s policy to reduce immigration “to do jobs that could be carried out by British citizens, given the right training and support.”

A paper circulating in ruling party circles said: “The Indian restaurant sector has already approached the government to explore how they can be supported to recruit and train British workers. Changes must come from the sector but the government will work with them to identify barriers and short-term support.”

Paul Goodman, executive editor of the Conservativehome website, said that Pickles has long wanted to set up a curry college: “It combines border control with foreign cooking. It would both help satisfy the apparently inexhaustible appetite for onion bhajis and prawn biryanis while also providing justification for the squeeze on visas.”