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Fun Facts

Food Facts

• Famous food brands that originated in Birmingham include Typhoo tea, Bird's Custard, Blue Bird Toffee, Bournville cocoa, Cadbury chocolate and HP Sauce.

• George Cadbury began making chocolate in Birmingham in 1824. At that time chocolate was considered an aphrodisiac and therefore not suitable for a lady's diet.

• If all the Cadbury creme eggs made by Birmingham-based Cadbury were stacked on top of each other, they would be 900 times higher than Everest.

• Birmingham produces some of the UK’s leading food and drink products. Lashford’s award winning sausages of Hall Green originated in 1889 and were a favourite dish of the late Queen Mother.  Lashford’s received a letter of thanks from TRHs The Prince and Diana, Princess of Wales after they were sent sausages as a wedding gift.

• Island Delight Caribbean patties by Birmingham-based Cleone foods currently accounts over 50% of the pattie market.

• Bull Ring Market won Best Outdoor Market in the National Association of British Market Authorities Awards

• Birmingham University farmer’s market is the first university in the country to obtain a licence to hold regular Farmers’ Markets.

• Fairs and festivals dedicated to food were held in the Bullring during the 1700s and 1800s. The most popular of such was the Onion Fair which celebrated the harvest of onions. Today, the city hosts the BBC Good Food Show and Taste of Birmingham.

• The BBC Good Food Show takes place at The National Exhibition Centre and is Britain's biggest and most extensive food event.

• Birmingham is home to the Balti, a spicy, aromatic Kashmiri dish, with over 100 Balti houses attracting over 20,000 visitors per week.

• Birmingham’s Balti Triangle was listed at no.15 in top 25 travel experiences in the UK in the book 25s: Britain and Ireland by Rough Guide.
  
  

• Balti means ‘bucket’ but is in fact a flat bottomed wok

• The Balti Triangle area has around 50 restaurants

• The Balti was first brought to Birmingham almost 25 years ago

• The most authentic Balti houses are Pakistani or Kashmiri, and not Indian

•  Even the Balti bowls are made in Birmingham!
  
  

• Celeb chefs with Midlands’ connections include Anthony Worrall-Thompson and Gordon Ramsay.

• Brummie Michelin star winning chef Glynn Purnell is making his mark. He has opened his own restaurant, Purnell’s, in the city centre and appeared in the TV show Great British Menu.

• Birmingham has over 200 restaurants in the city centre, spanning 27 countries across the globe, from Europe and the East, to the Caribbean and the Americas.

• Birmingham has one Michelin starred restaurant – Simpsons in Edgbaston.

• Bank restaurant features in 'The 50 Best Restaurants Outside London' by The Independent.        

• Birmingham’s Hotel du Vin is the only one of the chain to hold Ecole du Vin evenings – where you can learn the tricks of the trad

• Birmingham is home to a ‘floating restaurant’ in the form of away2dine. Diners can enjoy a five course meal and three hour cruise of the city.

• There’s also other critically acclaimed eateries  such as Opus which won Best newcomer at the Taste of Birmingham festival, and fine-dining Indian restaurant Itihaas which scooped Best UK Indian Restaurant and for Best in Midlands at the 2007 Cobra Good Curry Awards.