{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1594970"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1594970/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MX0545/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MX0545/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021MX0545","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MX0546","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MX0553","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1594970","accessionNumber":"CD.17:1 to 3-2021","objectType":"Cup","titles":[{"title":"Tala Curry Measure ","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Jasleen Kaur (b. 1986, Glasgow Scotland) is a Scottish-Indian multidisciplinary artist and designer based in London. Brought up in a Sikh household in Glasgow, Kaur’s work explores the malleability of culture and the layering of social histories within the world that surrounds us.  \r\n\r\nIn line with her practice of taking apart existing objects and configuring them to describe connections between composite parts, Kaur reworked a 1920s Cook’s Measure by the British manufacturer of cooking utensils and homeware, Tala. Kaur was always fascinated by how members of her family effortlessly measured ingredients for Indian dishes by adding a pinch of this and a handful of that. Inspired by the original Tala measure’s purpose of providing easy instructions for measuring ingredients, Jasleen wondered if that same approach be applied to encourage intuitive cooking of curry dishes by eye. Kaur describes her personal experience with these dishes as ‘a notion of something; it wasn’t mills and grams… it was a way of knowing’.  \r\n\r\nThe Tala Curry Measure points to animportant story of Indian and British culture and history. The commercial success of the Tala Curry Measure attests to the role curry played in British gastronomic culture, from the adaptation of curry recipes by memsahibs (middle-class white women living in colonial India) for popular Victorian periodicals, to ex-foreign secretary Robin Cook ‘s 2011 declaration of Tikka Masala as a ‘true British national dish’ by reflecting Britain’s plural identity. Jasleen Kaur’s Tala Curry Measure encodes a plural history of diasporic identity and cultural assimilation through a British cooking utensil which has been reworked for a cuisine itself both Indian and British. \r\n","physicalDescription":"The Tala Curry Measure is a hand-sized conical measure made of tin, sitting on a base that makes it easy to place on your kitchen counter. The outer face of the cone features a vibrant print. A pink 14-point star dominates the centre of the measure’s front-face. Overlaid above the star is the phrase ‘Curry Measure’ printed in capital letters and a yellow outline of an elephant, which in turn is overlaid by the red and white Tala elliptical logo, and a dark-blue banner with the word ‘Indian’ printed in a font evoking Gurmukhi script. A dark-blue band printed at the top of the measure details the recipes included in the measure. This motif is mirrored at the bottom of the measure with a band printed with the phrase ‘A Proper Indian Curry Made In England’. The measure is sold along with a cuboid tin box with a matching print and a paper instruction manual with the phrase ‘How To Cook A Curry’ printed on its front cover.  \r\n\r\nCircling the inner face of the Tala Curry Measure are a set of columns with ruler guides that represent increments of ingredients required to make the spice mixes for 10 different dishes. These dishes were chosen by Kaur for their resonance as familiar meals she consumed in her British Indian household. These include Chapatis, Biryani, Rice, Pakora, Butter Chicken, Raita, Dahl, Aloo Gobi, Jalfrezi and Murgh Methi.  ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Jasleen Kaur","id":"AUTH367250"},"association":{"text":"Designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Tala","id":"AUTH372038"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Stainless Steel","id":"AAT10920"},{"text":"Paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Folded and printed tin plate, printed and stapled paper. ","categories":[{"text":"Product design","id":"THES49025"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"DAD","id":"THES260586"},"images":["2021MX0545","2021MX0546","2021MX0553"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"74","id":"THES49720"},"free":"","case":"CA008","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"74","id":"THES49720"},"free":"","case":"CA008","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"74","id":"THES49720"},"free":"","case":"CA008","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"culinary measures","id":"THES398686"}],[{"text":"Box","id":"x44081"}],[{"text":"Book","id":"AAT28051"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2013","earliest":"2013-01-01","latest":"2013-12-31"},"association":{"text":"Designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"16","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"22/04/2021","earliest":"2021-04-22","latest":"2021-04-22"},"part":"Box ","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"12.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"22/04/2021","earliest":"2021-04-22","latest":"2021-04-22"},"part":"Box ","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"12.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"22/04/2021","earliest":"2021-04-22","latest":"2021-04-22"},"part":"Box ","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"15.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"22/04/2021","earliest":"2021-04-22","latest":"2021-04-22"},"part":"Curry Measure","note":""},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"12","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"22/04/2021","earliest":"2021-04-22","latest":"2021-04-22"},"part":"Curry Measure ","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"15","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"22/04/2021","earliest":"2021-04-22","latest":"2021-04-22"},"part":"How to Cook a Curry book ","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"11.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"22/04/2021","earliest":"2021-04-22","latest":"2021-04-22"},"part":"How to Cook a Curry book ","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The V&A first showed the Tala Curry Measure in the exhibition Food: Bigger than the plate in 2019. The object was then acquired for the collection and will now be on display in the new Design 1900-Now gallery.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Curry Measure, designed by Jasleen Kaur, manufactured by Tala, 2013, UK, tin plate and paper. ","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"","id":""}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Crisis and Conflict\n\r\nHome comforts\n\r\nThis measuring cup is a take on the 1920s Cook’s\r\nMeasure by British manufacturer Tala. Designed by\r\nthe artist Jasleen Kaur, it functions both as a recipe\r\nbook and scales for making Indian dishes that her\r\nmother and grandmother taught her to cook ‘by\r\neye’ during her childhood in Glasgow. Kaur wrote\r\nthe recipe booklet that comes with the measure\r\ntogether with her mother and sister.\n\r\nA measuring cup for cooking curry\r\n2013\r\nDesigned by Jasleen Kaur and Hurricane Design\r\nManufactured by Tala, UK\r\nTin plate\r\nMuseum no. CD.17-2021","date":{"text":"17/06/2021","earliest":"2021-06-17","latest":"2021-06-17"}}],"partNumbers":["CD.17:1-2021","CD.17:2-2021","CD.17:3-2021"],"accessionNumberNum":"17","accessionNumberPrefix":"CD","accessionYear":2021,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2025PG0888","2024NU8669"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-13","recordCreationDate":"2021-03-16","availableToBook":false}}