Why do only Indians work at Indian restaurants?

Posted by Frontle1@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 40 comments

Something I’ve always wondered. How do they advertise as “only Indian people need apply” when searching for chefs/waiters. I can make a variety of currys as good as any Indian takeaway because it’s basically like a cocktail but with food. You have your base meat and then a mixture of spices measured out in various quantities plus your base sauce which would either be tomato based, cream based etc so what I’m trying to say is, it must only assist with the authentic experience to have the food prepared and served by Indian chefs and waiters because the quality of the food as long as prepared in the correct way, cannot stray from what it is supposed to be no matter who it is prepared and served by, as long as it’s done correctly.

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40 Comments

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hoksworthwipple@reddit

I've seen British people working in several takeaways and restaurants near me.

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FatBloke4@reddit

I recall there was a case some years ago, where a qualified and experienced chef was refused a job at an Indian restaurant (in the UK) on the grounds that "the language of the kitchen is Bengali". A judge subsequently ruled that this was an unreasonable discriminatory constraint and unlawful.

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verysmallwilly@reddit

Lot of em are on a fudged tier 2 visa with inflated salaries on return for a kick back from the family back home. My missus is Indian and getting money in and out of that country is a nightmare, so schemes like this are quite common. In return Restaurant has loyal and committed staff who have no incentive to leave unless they can find another sponsor which is unlikely as the salary is way above market. Chinese restaurants do it too. So that’s why there’s value to them in having a pipeline of Indian staff compared to some random applicant off the street.

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Interesting_Buyer943@reddit

They don’t. The vast majority of Indian restaurants in the UK are owned and run by Bangladeshis.

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unitedfan98@reddit

Surely you're south Asian lol We all know its mostly bengalis lol

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OverallResolve@reddit

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Thandoscovia@reddit

*same thing, innit*

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Personal-Listen-4941@reddit

It’s to add to the authenticity. You get the same in Chinese & Italian restaurants. It’s amazing how their accents will often change to a more local sounding one once they’re off the clock as well.

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Frontle1@reddit (OP)

That’s actually very true

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Allthebeerbutnoidea@reddit

I once went to Italian and was served by a lad who grew up across the street from my mate. As English as they come. And yet he spoke like he'd grown up in Naples.

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pisseddrunks@reddit

“Me name’s not Luigi, it’s… Carl”

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JosiesSon77@reddit

I ‘ate ‘is guts Luigi, what would you do Luigi? Tell me Luigi, please Luigi please.

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holytriplem@reddit

> I can make a variety of currys as good as any Indian takeaway because it’s basically like a cocktail but with food. I would bet you can't lol. Or maybe you're just going to particularly shit takeaways

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Frontle1@reddit (OP)

Oh and why would you assume that? Are you saying my currys are shit? What are you basing this on? What a weird blind assumption to make.

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holytriplem@reddit

It's based on your description of how to make Indian food. You don't just slop some meat, spices and sauce together and call it a day.

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Frontle1@reddit (OP)

Literally, I’ve delivered for Indian takeaways and spent a lot of time in the kitchens. They have a massive shelf of spices and they cook the meat, and add the spices. That’s all there is to it my friend. Unless you wanna elaborate?

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Rowanx3@reddit

Proves the point. Most curries are based on gravies which are toasted spices and blended vegetables. Meat and spices doesn’t cut it. There’s a lot of time and pallet understanding to good south asian food. To say its just down to spices down plays the food

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seriousrikk@reddit

If you’ve spent so much time there, why not ask them instead of Reddit. While you are there, feel free to discuss how easy it is to make authentic Indian food.

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Frontle1@reddit (OP)

Because the moment has long passed to ask them. And yes, it is easy to make traditional Indian food as with any food, if you have the recipe, the method and the components, it doesn’t matter if Indian hands have bound them all together or not. Unless that really matters to……you?

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holytriplem@reddit

Why would chefs require any kind of training if it was just a matter of picking up a recipe book and following the instructions? Just because the takeaways you've worked for prepare shit, low-quality food doesn't mean that's how Indian food's supposed to be prepared. Trust me, most of the Indian people I know refuse to eat at like 90% of Indian places in the UK for this very reason.

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BaseballFuryThurman@reddit

Cry?

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Frontle1@reddit (OP)

Yes it’s ok to cry, dear. You don’t have to ask permission

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AverageCheap4990@reddit

They don't. The small once at least are family run or they bring people in from back home.

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DangerShart@reddit

Never see a woman working there either. I wonder if they are encouraged to publish their diversity figures on their websites?

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ToriaLyons@reddit

My two local places both have women and white staff.

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Frontle1@reddit (OP)

Oh yeah now that you mention it. Sounds very tight and strict

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BigDanglyOnes@reddit

A lot of staff are Bangladeshi here in London. I don’t know if that makes a difference with that.

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Strict_Palpitation76@reddit

So is this considered racist for a business to do or does that only apply to white ppl?

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Frontle1@reddit (OP)

Well………exactly. There’s so many stipulations and rules to follow regarding employment diversity within somewhere like Tesco but Indian restaurants, nothing but Indian. Every time, all day every day. Why? And how?

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Strict_Palpitation76@reddit

We live in an anti white culture is pretty much why, virtually every industry discriminates against white individuals via "diversity" quotas and double standards such as the "only x race may apply" are only bad if it's white, won't change til white guilt ends and they grow some backbone again and not tolerate the abuse

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Frontle1@reddit (OP)

The worst is the people that say “a typical white people thing to do” they literally doing their own race down

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Strict_Palpitation76@reddit

Yeah, I've realized that whites are the biggest anti white advocates, it's much more prevalent in more affluent whites who see minorities= poor and so they feel guilt, they also typically have the white saviour complex where they're helping the poor little minorities who "can't do it on their own". I've zero patience for those clowns, or anyone who slags off white ppl, I've grown to have zero tolerance as a 28 year old it's the only world I've known and enough is enough

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gdrlee@reddit

> How do they advertise as “only Indian people need apply” Do they though? Oftentimes the best candidate for the job of "cooking Indian food" is someone who grew up cooking Indian food.

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lemonbettareitnol@reddit

The bigger restaurants and chains will have people of all races working there. The smaller places do not advertise "only indian people need apply" they don't advertise anything and there is no applying. They are just small family run restaurants staffed by family and family friends

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ScienceDisastrous323@reddit

Are you really concerned about 'cultural appropriation', LOL, why? Indians don't care, they open Japanese restaurants, Mexican restaurants, pizza places, fried chicken places, etc. I've even seen a Chinese restaurant run by Indians. They don't give a shit about culturally appropriating everyone elses food, why shouldn't you do the same to them?

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Frontle1@reddit (OP)

Nah I don’t give a shit about all that nonsense, I was just having a deep think about any Indian restaurants I’ve ever come across where there are anything other than Indian men running the show and as to why that would be. Would be refreshing to have my chicken pathia served to me by a big pale sweaty ginger bloke now and again but………probably never gonna happen

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GoodboyJohnnyBoy@reddit

There’s a very hierarchical way of relating to each other which would generally not be acceptable to Western people.

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Frontle1@reddit (OP)

Ah yeah, I’ve heard about this it stems from the old days in Bombay and has been passed down from generation to generation on the male side of the family and is taken very seriously as a way to determine who in the household or the family line is the “head honcho” and makes all the decisions, also has to become the breadwinner and provide for everybody within the direct family unit living inside the same household. It’s called “Biggest mustache wins”!

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PeggyNoNotThatOne@reddit

Very often the chefs have poor English and so it's vital that staff dealing with customers speak the chef's language.

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WhiteDiamondK@reddit

They are normally family businesses. The young (normally) men that work in these establishments are the sons, nephews or friends of the owners in a lot of cases. And one is always called Dave.