British Chinese cuisine is a style of
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many o ...
developed by
British Chinese
British Chinese (also known as Chinese British or Chinese Britons) are people of Chineseparticularly Han Chineseancestry who reside in the United Kingdom, constituting the second-largest group of Overseas Chinese in Western Europe after France. ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, typically adapted to British tastes, but increasingly inspired by authentic
Cantonese dishes.
It is considered a major part of
British cuisine and one of their most popular foods.
It often consists of
fried food with the inclusion of
chips
''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The seri ...
and
curry sauce, which are not known for being traditionally Chinese, but are food staples in the UK.
History
In the early 1880s, Chinese food items and eating houses appeared in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, mainly visited by Chinese seamen and students.
From 1841 to 1997,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
and the
New Territories
The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...
served as the final colonial stronghold of the British Empire for a significant period spanning. This region became an integral part of an established trade route, attracting numerous European shipping companies that would enlist Southern Chinese men as seafarers, who in turn traveled and resettled in the United Kingdom. While these sailors and subsequent generations of Chinese migrants were not bestowed with citizenship or granted complete rights, many of them, driven by impoverished circumstances and the pursuit of improved livelihoods, established their homes in Britain. To sustain the burgeoning Chinese communities and cater to the needs of the transient sailors, they resorted to setting up informal noodle shops. This practice reached its pinnacle between the two World Wars.
London had its first recorded Chinese restaurant open in 1907 or 1908.
During the mid-1900s, after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, a significant shift occurred in
UK immigration policies, permitting increased migration to address the post-war demand for labor. As a result, a "restaurant boom" emerged within the Chinese community. Between 1957 and 1964, the number of Chinese food establishments experienced a twofold increase, with a considerable portion of these establishments catering to the tastes and preferences of non-Chinese clientele.
The restaurants were operated largely by Hong Kongers who moved to the UK.
In 2011, the
Ming-Ai (London) Institute launched the British Chinese Food Culture project with a grant from the
Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
, aimed at exploring and tracking the changes in Chinese food throughout its history in the United Kingdom.
In 2020, the
coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...
negatively impacted many Chinese restaurants in the UK, with a number of restaurants in London's
Chinatown in particular facing financial difficulty
as a result of prejudice against Chinese takeaways, based on fears described by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
as "unfounded".
.
.
Some Chinese takeaway restaurants in Britain have developed original recipes such as ''jar jow'', a stir-fried dish of sliced
, bamboo shoots, onions and green pepper seasoned with chilli powder and tomato paste.
By the late 2010s, the popularity of old fashioned dishes like ''jar jow'' had faded in favour of American-style Chinese dishes such as
whereas many other restaurants throughout Britain increasingly offer authentic Chinese dishes.