The City of Birmingham in Britain is reported to be planning to obtain GI for protection of ‘Balti’ dishes - a popular form of curry in Birmingham. This would enable the restaurant owners in Birmingham to bar restaurants outside the city from naming/calling their dishes as Balti. The Birmingham City Council of UK is considering filing of the application claiming that the dish originated in the region. The Sparkhill and the surrounding areas are home to about 30 restaurants specialising in the dish and is now known as the Balti Triangle. The famous curry is cooked quickly over a high flame with fresh marinated meat and/or vegetables. It is then cooked with extra spices added during the cooking process. The meal is usually served up sizzling in the same dish, called the Balti dish.

Local Councils can apply to the European Union for Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) or Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG) if foodstuffs are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area using recognised know-how. According to a news report on BBC, the city council is always seeking new and imaginative ways to promote the city regionally, nationally and internationally, which, if judged to be feasible and to the benefit of local people or businesses, it would not hesitate in pursuing.

British dishes that have won such status include the Melton Mobray Pork Pie and the Arbroath Smokie - a smoked haddock, though the veterans insist that Balti is a distinctive style of cooking, rather than a particular recipe.

However, it has also been accepted by the Council and displayed at its website that the concept of Balti dish originated in Pakistan. It says, Balti “is actually a round bottomed wok with side handles, originally used by the people in the Baltistan region of Pakistan". It is also reported that the first ever Balti was created by immigrants from Kashmir in Sparkhill in the 1970s. Interestingly, now this region falls in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘Balti’ as a dish offered in Asian restaurants. The dish originated in the small town of Landi Kotal and travelled its way to Punjab, where it became intensely popular. It was popularized by South Asian migrants to Britain including Kashmiris, who have claimed it as their own, when they served it in their restaurants in late seventies.

With these facts on the fore, it would be certainly difficult to prove that the savouries originated in Birmingham, even though they gained popularity there. The strategy that the Council would adopt in such a scenario remains to be seen.