There are things that we acquired and then there are things we invented different uses for to adapt to the situation at hand. The teacake is one of them.

Now, there will be people reading this wondering what on earth the teacake has got to do with anything. Let me explain. When the brothers first set foot on this godforsaken cold island we didn’t have any rotee (chapatti).

Yes, we had the means to make the rotee but we did not have the rotee as such. So we decided to innovate. Having made ourselves some dhal for the evening we sat down and realised we had nothing to eat the dhal with.

Yes, we liked the rice but something was missing. We needed a ‘rotee substitute’. We needed something that would absorb the dhal and the ‘ghosht’ lamb juices whist at the same time being cost-effective.

Hey, when you worked 12 hours in a factory you are not about to waste that money easily.

Some smart Abdul..or it could have been a Fazeela...we will never ever know..brought home the teacake.

And so it happened...one teacake became two and soon enough it was all part of the regular diet.

It must have been some sort of great innovation and word of the teacake must have spread quickly.

‘Hey,...next time you make some dhal ghosht...try this....It’s some quality stuff.’ The wonderful thing about the teacake is how it can actually clean a plate thoroughly...it literally wipes the plate clean and one is left feeling one has accomplished something in life.

Got some people coming round and you want to feed them fast? Get a bag of teacakes and be done with the pleasantries.

I know now we are able to eat as much rotee as we wish but why on earth is the teacake still popular? This isn’t a cultural thing or is it? When one goes to India you don’t get served teacake with your curry.

Unlike the rusk which was already popular the teacake was something that made itself famous.

The ‘teacake for the curry use’ is a British-Indian invention. And what an damn invention it was.