Globalization’s Impact on the Food Industry: The Case of Chinese Cuisine in Britain

The Chinese culture is considered as one of the strongest and most spread out culture in the world, with Chinatowns all over the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Oceania. It’s rare to meet a person who is not acquainted to basic Chinese cultural practices such as fengshui, Chinese New Year, dim sum, wontons, kung fu, dragons, and many others. It has indeed infiltrated most of the world’s nations, so much so that globalization is argued to morph into “China-nisation”.

Britain is no exception. Waves of immigration startingin the early 19th century started the British Chinese history, forever changing the landscape of the national economy. Increasing Chinese migrant labour force spilled into industry sectors such as seafaring, hairdressing, laundry, and catering.

Looking back

One of the most apparent footholds of the Chinese culture in Britain is its booming catering industry. Every British town has at least one Chinese restaurant offering takeaways and the recently becoming popular traditional Chinese foods.

In 1884, Sir Robert Hart held a grand display of Chinese Food in an exhibition entitled “The Chinese Restaurant”. This display showcased “olea-scented lotus nuts” and "small treasure chest in the style of the Qing dynasty" prepared by top chefs from Beijing and Guangzhou. This sparked the interest of the British press in Chinese food. Two decades after, the first recorded Chinese restaurant named The Chinese Restaurant opened in London’s Piccadilly.

The growth of Chinese restaurants was hampered during the war years. Post World War II, the British Chinese industry slowly picked up pace again and continued to grow over the years. From the “chop suey houses” in the 1950’s, Chinese catering developed into authentic Chinese food takeaways and restaurants in the 1970’s; specialist restaurants such as banquets and wontons in the 1980’s; and the fine dining sector in recent years. Chinese wedding caterers London particularly grew alongside the growth of Chinese couples opting to marry in British soil.

Driving forces of the British Chinese catering growth

Currently, there are an estimated 17, 500 Chinese catering outlets in the UK. The industry generates an annual turnover of about £5 billion. It directly employs about 100,000 workers and approximately 50% of the British Chinese population. It is therefore safe to say that the Chinese catering industry is the pillar of the Chinese community in Britain and thus needs to be supported by all means.

The continuous immigration and increase of Chinese population, plus the increasing interests of Brits on conventional and traditional Cantonese foods,are the main factors that push the Chinese catering industry to grow. Chinese caterers are currently one of the most in demand Asian wedding caterers London. Labour force for this industry primarily comes from overseas workerssince there are no comprehensive and established education and training opportunities for Chinese cookery.

The advent of Internet also impacted the industry in a huge way. A catering agency in London, for example, does not have to publicise their services through traditional means with staggering costs. A well-functioning website and competent marketing team are all it takes to get new customers.

As national borders continue to blur, we are expecting to see more changes in the Chinese catering industry in UK and therefore the overall political and economic backdrop of Britain.