Adjusted to curries?

I love curries. I always have. I think I inherited it from my dad, who loves spicy food. My fiance on the other hand... 

It's not the spicyness that gets me, it's just the smell of curry itself.  I LOVE SPICY FOOD!!! The actual, original, poppy colored stuff is the curry I'm talking about.  Now that I've been reading some of your posts, I didn't realize that the Brits made so many kinds.  I'm going to have to give it a try when I get over there.  Having tried the actual, authentic stuff straight from India, I have the feeling that British curries are comparable to saying that Taco Bell is authentic Mexican.  But I still stand that Taco Bell is the best fast food EVER!!! 

Any 'poppy colored stuff' from a takeaway places is probably not going to be very good unless you're fortunate to have a really good takeaway.

Like the woman who is allergic, there may be a particular spice that you don't like the smell of. I personally don't like fresh corriander (or cilantro as we call it in the US). You should check out a recipe for a homemade curry poweder and see if you can go thru all the spices and see if you can smell them and figure out what it is you don't like. Chances are, it's not in every 'curry'!

Having tried the actual, authentic stuff straight from India, I have the feeling that British curries are comparable to saying that Taco Bell is authentic Mexican. 

That would not be a correct assumption.
The chefs that cook the food in the curry shops are almost always, actual, authentic chefs straight from India, Pakistan & Bangladesh.
My favourite curry shop doesnt serve any 'poppy-coloured' curries... they dont use any artificial colours, and they claim to prepare Indian 'home-style' dishes.   They're incredible!  And dont stain your fingers red.

I agree as well...I tend to have proper curries from "Auntie" who's from Sri Lanka... my DH's best mate is from there as well and he makes exquisite curries. I lived in Whitechapel and my staple diet was Tandoori Chicken while there..   I think the different from Autie's curry and the one from the restaurant is the level of spiciness...she holds nothing back


If you find Taco Bell so favorable then there's only one way to go from there ....up


minging monkey ear wax wrapped in alledged "Flour tortilla"..yuck

Curry is an overused term for anything spicy. Over here it's usually in reference to Indian but in reality, you get curries in lots of asian cuisine - Thai and Japanese spring to mind.

I dont' have the info at my fingertips but if I'm not mistaken, curry only technically refers to a spice mixture - hency the vast array of curries! So yes, you can have extremely mild to extremely spicy curries. Likewise, very dry curries to very wet (saucy) curries.

If you have a sensitive stomach, I'd start with the 'korma' type curries though these can be a bit heavy and filling.

And to the person who is allergic... since 'curry' refers to mixed spices, there's probably only one (or more) that are the culprit. Mustard is a good guess but it could be any number of them. But since you don't even like the smell, probably not worth figuring out what it is unless you're worried a spice might turn up in another type of cuisine (such as cumin or corriander).

 I'm the one who's allergic and yes it probably is one of or a combination of a few of the 8 spices typically found in curry spice.   I know it's not mustard, or cumin, since I use both a lot in my everyday cooking, but corriander could be the key.. whichever, as you say it doesn't pay me to find out as even the smell makes me ill, instant headache and difficulty breathing.
  I can't wait to introduce my curry loving DF to some authentic Spicey Mexican food... YUMM!!

I'm the one who's allergic and yes it probably is one of or a combination of a few of the 8 spices typically found in curry spice.   I know it's not mustard, or cumin, since I use both a lot in my everyday cooking, but corriander could be the key.. whichever, as you say it doesn't pay me to find out as even the smell makes me ill, instant headache and difficulty breathing.
  I can't wait to introduce my curry loving DF to some authentic Spicey Mexican food... YUMM!!

If you eat a lot of mexican food and don't have a reaction then chances are it's not the coriander (cilantro) either because it's used in a LOT of mexican food...especially salsas. So that might narrow it down a bit more.

I understand the first posters aversion to curries. I am the same way though I wish I could enjoy it since my fiance adores curry. I cannot seem to eat Indian OR Thai food.  This is not from a lack of trying though. We've tried different places, different dishes, different levels of spiciness and no matter what I end up with an upset stomach within an hour. It is awful especially since my fiance loves these foods and the spicier the better.

I really don't understand it because I can eat spicy latino food (Chilean, Mexican, Cuban) but Indian and Thai are out for me. I think it must be something in those spices that don't exist in Latino food. Personally I have always suspected that I am allergic to Cumin, it does smell wonderful though. 

Personally I have always suspected that I am allergic to Cumin, it does smell wonderful though. 

But cumin is frequently an ingredient in Mexican food as well?

I always think it's either the coconut milk or yogurt that is used in Indian / Thai that I really don't like because there are some P.R. foods that I don't like because of the coconut milk. My other theory is the turmeric spices that I'm not keen on either.

Maybe it isn't the Cumin then. It could be as Alicia wrote the Tumeric. I know that it is not Corriander/Cilantro since I even eat it raw and have never had a problem with it. I could get those allergy tests done but in truth I don't know if it is worth it.

I love Indian which is a good thing as my bf is Indian (first generation English).  He cooks all the time...but never uses coconut milk in it.  He cooks a northern Indian style which tends not to use that stuff so much.  One suggestion of a dish to try if you don't like the basic English/Indian curry is tandoori - it's amazingly good and much more healthy!

Is the Tandoori the one with the yoghurt? If so, yes I've had it a few times. It is delicious but I still ended up with an upset stomach later. I have always liked the taste of Indian and Thai foods it's just what comes afterwards that makes me avoid it now. My twin sister has had ulcers and even though I haven't had them myself maybe my stomach is more sensitive than it should be. Contrary to belief ulcers are caused by a stomach bacteria and not from stress, though that can set it off. I still wonder though how I can eat spicy latino foods with no problems at all and yet Indian and Thai food make me very sick in my stomach within an hour or so. ?

Tandoori is the lovely oven cooked one with the yoghurt yes! I used to live off the tandoori chicken across from the Royal London hospital...

I basically got an indian curry recipe book and just weed out the cardamon seeds or the substitute the ingredients I don't like...If I do go to an Indian restaurant ..I just order Tandoori

Before I moved here I was sure I hated curries. Somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have tried something bad that was labelled "curry". The first night I was in the UK Richard took me out to a curry house. I've never looked back! Couldn't love the stuff more. We even bought an authentic indian cookbook and make our own curries. I worked with a woman whose parents were from India and she gave me some top tips on cooking (like use yoghurt instead of water when making onion bahjis - scrumptious!).

Taco Bell is good, but only after an amazingly brain-numbing piss-up. The Taco Bell closest to me in Seattle was in the Twilight Zone - very freak, indeed - and going there after a long night of debauchery was always a treat in some way. Having said that, if I had to choose between Taco Bell and sit down Mexican food I'd take the later any day of the week.

Man, I'm hungry now . . . .