curry

I have just had my first Thai meal in seven years. Ahh, it’s good to be back in England!

I’ve adored Thai food ever since I spent a couple of months travelling around that beautiful land nearly 20 years ago. Of course, nothing can compare with the variety and richness of flavours you get in the country itself. But I have managed to find some pretty good substitutes among the multitude of Thai restaurants that have been set up around Britain.

So finding ourselves without a Thai restaurant – good or bad – in the corner of Spain to which we moved seven years ago was a big disappointment.

Even more disappointing, there was a dearth of “international cuisine” of pretty much any description. Our town boasted two Chinese restaurants, several pizzerias and some good Catalan-themed places. But that was it.

Don’t get me wrong, Spanish food is great. And being able to buy locally-caught fish from the shop around the corner, or stock up on fresh vegetables from the town square market is a treat. But there was always that hankering for variety.

Even cooking our favourite dishes at home proved tricky. The local supermarkets offered some ingredients for Mexican food and a few jars of ready-made curry sauces, but they are pricey in the extreme. The range of jarred spices available is limited, fresh ones almost non-existent. Even getting fresh coriander proved nigh-on impossible.

By contrast, Britain’s imperial past, and the country’s multi-ethnic diversity that has resulted, means practically every city, town and village offers an array of restaurants and takeaways, while the supermarket shelves are piled high with foodstuffs from all corners of the world. In New York, where we lived for a year at the turn of the millennium, the choice was even more abundant.

Britain is certainly not all great. Still, at least my taste buds are enjoying it.