AN Indian restaurant and a chef have accused M&S of “cultural appropriation” over its new vegan biryani wrap.
Made from sweet potato, spiced basmati rice, buckwheat and roasted red pepper, the wrap has been described as inauthentic on social media.
"Thanks but I like my biryani with rice in a bowl not a wrap. Seriously M&S!?” wrote Maunika Gowardhan, author of the cookbook Indian Kitchen.
The chef went added that the wrap went against the traditions of the dish.
In another tweet, she added: "There are over 20 different regional varieties of biryanis across india. With spices & techniques unique to regions. That might be too technical to convey but atleast get the basics right. It’s a dish. Flavours are relative to regions. The common thread they all have rice!"
In comments underneath, she added that there's no such thing as a vegetarian biryani in India.
"Just to put it in perspective, in India firstly there is no such thing as a veg Biryani. Most places will serve mutton or chicken or even fish. It's wrong on many levels when people will assume this is what a Biryani looks like!"
A spokesperson for Darjeeling Express, an Indian restaurant in Soho, London, expressed similar sentiments. “This is so wrong at SO many levels — who are you paying to design your wraps @marksandspencer?” the tweet read. “You seriously need to rethink your “exotic” wrap selection. That is not Biryani-you do not appropriate names from a cuisine without even bothering to do any research on that dish.”
The wrap is part of the supermarket’s new Plant Kitchen range.
Responding to the criticisms, an M&S spokesperson said: "M&S is famous for its food innovation and our developers use a fusion of different flavours and ingredients to create an exciting range of products to appeal to customers’ tastes.”
