British curry eater here. I have a curry cookbook that identifies the regions of Birmingham where the dish was believed to have originated. The classic Balti is widely understood to have been developed to meet the tastes of the British

That British curry is exported to India would certainly suggest that it's something different :)

Old-school jokes about British food aside, Britain now has a fantastic food culture and the range of cuisine available in even quite small towns compares well with a large chunk of Europe. I think there's a willingness to experiment and innovate (both in terms of the providers and also the diners) that some cultures with very strong food traditions struggle with. I won't go on again about how disappointing my experiences in Naples were, but it opened my eyes to how fortunate I am in the UK.

British carbonara tends to be a bit different from that in Italy too.

Apparently it was invented in a flat a minutes walk from my flat. I had no idea.

I've eaten in Italian establishments that do not carry Carbonara on their menu and become quite sniffy if you ask about it, given that it arose so recently and primarily because of food imports from the USA.

Ha, in Oxford we have a restaurant called the Oxford New York Italian, talk about confused identity.

A well-cooked chip of a good potato, fresh from the kitchen with just the right amount of rock salt, cracked pepper and almost too-hot oil is almost a transcendental experience.

But done badly they're awful.