Curry boom a reaction to 80s attitude suggests Rushanara Ali

Looking back on how curry has changed the culinary landscape in Britain MP Rushanara Ali says that attitudes could have sparked the emergence of asian restaurants across Britain.



She says today Asian restaurants are getting swankier and more stylish and are in stark contrast to the stereotype 70s style eateries in need of renovation that many still regard them as. She says her favourite dishes are 'mum-made' but would love to see a 'Kasturi'restaurant in this part of town.

Curry Industry is crucial to economy says MP Roshanara Ali

Rushanara Ali, the first Bangladeshi to become a member of parliament was one of the public icons to speak at the BCA Golden Jubilee Celebration Launch earlier this month. I caught up with her after for a quick chat about curry, politics and the economy and she explained just how important curry is to this country.

River Simple launches New Hydrogen Car

River Simple's new Hydrogen car



After nearly a decade of work these wheels are finally on the road. This Hydrogen powered car has an open sourced design which means that manufacturer's around the world can simply download the design free of cost and use it to create the two seater hybrids in their own factory.



The mechanics of this hydrogen beauty

How do fuel cells work?

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Electric VS Hybrid

Car manufacturer's around the world are now under pressure from governments everywhere to move towards lower carbon economies. As a result manufacturer's are now looking at electric and hybrid vehicles.Even people like Gordan Murray who designed the F1 McLaren, one of the fastest cars of all time,is now looking at more fuel efficient designs and his new T25 is already creating quite a buzz in the industry.

In the UK we might see a new government incentive scheme take off in the coming months which will provide 5000 pound settlements on the purchase of electric vehicles.

While many feel that electric vehicles are the solution to reducing the carbon footprint crash engineer Darren Speck says that hybrids might be more viable

Challenges facing automobile industry today

The automotive sector around the globe faces huge challenges with the depleting fuel reserves and the need to find alternatives. The automobile sector is the largest contributor to the UK economy and is at the forefront of the global industry but the challenges it's facing are not exclusive to this country's motor manufacturer's.

I had a little tete a tete with Darren Speck, a friend who also happens to be a crash engineer at TATA Motors and he highlighted some of the key challenges that the industry is facing today...

"We are out of this world" says BCA President

The BCA - Bangladesh Caterer's Association - is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year and hosted a press luncheon at Bengal Clippers on thursday 1st July to mark the start of year long jubiliations.

Looking back on the last achievements of the BCA, President Baljoor Rashid says the journey has not been easy but the achievments have been great and a reason to celebrate.

BCA Launches Golden Jubiliee Celebrations

BCA Celebrates it's 50th Anniversary with Curries, Icons and a Roadshow

The Golden jubilee celebrations of The Bangladesh Caterers’ Association (BCA kicked off on Thursday 1st July,2010 at Bengal Clippers with the BCA President Baljoor Rashid, Ms Rushanara Ali, the first Bangladeshi MP, MP Ann Main,MP Keith Best, Allama Siddiki-Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Lord Bilimoria taking turns to reflect on the success if curry over the last 50years.

The story of the BCA, the group that helped infuse curry into the British way of life, goes back to 1960 when 12 people sat down in London on the 3rd of July and decided that a body was needed to represent struggling Bangladeshi organizations.

“People with individual businesses needed an organization to help to develop their organization and represent their businesses” says Baljoor Rashid.

That meeting marked the birth of the BCA which was publicly launched on the 10th of October that year. Curry has come a long way since then the industry has from 300 restaurants to a 12000 curry houses that today contribute 4 Billion pounds to the British economy. Their most popular invention, ''Chicken Tikka Masala' sells 55 million portions a week across the UK.

According to Rashid “ The former foreign secretary Robin Cook said Curry is the national dish of Britain and that is an achievement for us”. He hopes to see the success of the curry industry triple over the next fifty years.

To celebrate the achievements of the BCA, the organization is hosting a nationwide roadshow, and the annual BCA Awards 2010 in October which aims to provide recognition to the nations most outstanding Asian restaurants.