An 'exiled' Bradford man is defending the curry capital's honour after chefs in his adopted homeland of Japan claimed they had invented the dish.

Last month, the T&A carried reports of how a Japanese company had applied for a patent on curry. This left Bradford's Asian community hot under the collar as they said that the world knew that curry was an Asian invention.

Chefs in Bradford hit back at the idea, which would enable the company to claim royalties on each curry sold in Japan, branding it 'ridiculous'.

Dr Gil-Nawaz Akbar, of Bradford- based Mumtaz Paan House, which sells its curries all over the country, said: "This is like Mumtaz applying for a patent to sell fish and chips."

And now Kamran Baig, who has lived and worked in Japan for the past three years and is back in Heaton, Bradford for the Millennium, has given his verdict on Japanese curry - the spice is not right.

Twenty-seven-year-old Kamran, who studied at Buttershaw Upper School, said: "I'm from Bradford where there are restaurants on every street and more importantly, I've been brought up on my mum's delicious home cooking. I think it's outrageous that the Japanese are trying to patent curry."

Kamran, who has been teaching at the International School in Kobe, Japan, said that Japanese curry just does not come up to scratch.

"There are no real spices in their curry so it doesn't taste of anything. And whereas in Bradford there are loads of varieties to choose from, in Japan there isn't anything. It's just a like a watery concoction. I suppose I have been spoilt. My mum's cooking is second to none - pilau rice, chicken tikka, delicious curries and kebabs of every description, I have feasted on them all."

Kamran has lived in Japan for three years. Previously he taught at a school in Osaka before moving to Kobe a few months ago.

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