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In November 2009 the nation's "favourite dish" was
celebrated once again in National Curry Week with the aim of raising
money for charity.
Founder Peter Grove and his colleagues who include British Curry
Awards supremo Enam Ali MBE, Gourmand Best World Cookery Book 2006
holder Mridula Baljekar and recent OBE recipient Cyrus Todiwala,
decided to create a special charitable fund for 2009 to raise
donations "for those in need and who have not".
The concept was simple. Some 23 million people enjoy a curry in
Britain each year and a donation of just £1 per person would
create a very worthwhile fund annually to support NGOs and other
battlefront charities. Market research indicated that curry lovers
would support this almost without exception and sponsors Cobra Beer
and CurriesOnline.co.uk were brought in to provide the financial
backing to hammer home the message.
From a publicity point of view the 2009 event was the best ever with
1200 restaurants all over Britain joining in and radio, TV and
newspapers across the country doing their bit. Expectations for the
new charitable fund The Curry Tree, were high but, according to Grove
the response so far has been very disappointing.
"The Haiti disaster has brought the situation into sharp
focus," commented Grove. "We should have been in a position
to react immediately to the terrible situation and make a serious
donation to Oxfam, Red Cross or one of the other frontline
organisations but an obvious failure to get our message across leaves
us watching on, helpless once again."
The organisers of National Curry Week are obviously bewildered as to
why restaurants and the curry loving public did not react more
positively but are determined to correct the situation ready for
National Curry Week 2010 in November.
"It is not as if we are asking for people to divert existing
charitable donations to us." said Grove. "Recession or no,
all curry fans have to do is add £1 to the cost of their curry
once a year and pass it to The Curry Tree (www.thecurrytree.com) and
they can know they are doing something really worthwhile whilst
crunching on their poppadoms." |
