The UK Independence Party wants to get Britain out of the European Union, strengthen control of the country’s borders, and keep those pesky foreigners out.
But the party’s leader, Nigel Farage, denied being anti-immigrant in an interview with a popular UK morning TV program. This is despite having once said he was late for an event because of the “population going through the roof,” defending a colleague who described a person with a “Chinky” Chinese name, and said that people had a right to be concerned if a group of Romanians moved in next door.
Challenged to name one good thing that has come out of immigration to the UK, Farage replied:
Just look at the food, I am just about old enough to remember when it was awful and going out was actually quite difficult.
In this, at least, Farage is quite right. British food has a terrible reputation, but the country’s culinary culture has been transformed by a decade of revolution that saw global cuisines of every stripe invade London, the rise of fresh and organic food, and the emergence of celebrity chefs such as Heston Blumenthal, whose restaurant was once named the best in the world.
Now, would this food revolution have ever happened if people like Farage—who is on course to win a seat in parliament in May—were in power?