Can Scots handle hot curries?

A weekend curry is a treat to most Scottish households, whether in a takeaway or dining out. But can we handle the heat?

Published 3rd Dec 2015
Updated 8 th Aug 2023

Food writer, chef, and entrepreneur Hari Ghotra, from Wolverhampton, wanted to see which parts of Britain like their curries hot, so collected five years worth of tweets containing curry names and compiled the data using her own heat rating system.

Curries were given numbers from 1-10 depending on the intensity Ms Ghorta associated them with - and it turns
out, Scots aren’t a fan of the heat.

The data was then compiled into an interactive map, showing the average heat score of each region.

Edinburgh makes the top of the chart with a heat rating of 309, closely followed by Glasgow at 308. But this is nothing compared to the 874 Lancashire has, at the top of the UK table.

Tom Kitchin Fish Curry

Top 5 Scottish Regions - Heat Rating
1. Edinburgh 309
2. Glasgow 308
3. Highlands 294
4. Fife 257
5. North Lanarkshire 155

VDeep in Edinburgh said that its customers enjoy a range of dishes: “Its very mixed - our customer’s favourite dishes range from vindloo to butter chicken, to the chilli marinaded black ball ribs.”

Full List (Heat Rating)
1. Edinburgh (309)
2. Glasgow (308)
3. Highlands (294)
4. Fife (257)
5. North Lanarkshire (155)
6. Aberdeen (133)
7. Midlothian (123)
8. Dundee (110)
9. South Lanarkshire (91)
10. Dumfries & Galloway (62)
11. West Lothian (59)
12. Aberdeenshire (57)
13. East Ayrshire (53)
14. South Ayrshire (51)
15. East Dunbartonshire (45)
16. Moray (41)
17. Renfrewshire (34)
18. Clackmanshire (33)
19. Falkirk (32)
19. Angus (32)
20. East Lothian (31)
21. Stirling (28)
22. Perthshire & Kinross (27)
23. North Ayrshire (25)
24. East Renfrewshire (24)
25. Borders (23)
26. West Dunbartonshire (19)
27. Inverclyde (13)
28. Argyll & Bute (8)
29. Shetland Islands (4)
30. Eilean Siar (1)

Emma lives in Fife, after graduating from the University of Sunderland in 2015, and works for The Scotsman. A self-confessed food addict, who is yet to turn down a drink, she loves exploring new restaurants – especially if they have good steak or BBQ on the menu. She likes to pretend she can bake – bookmarking hundreds of recipes - but has never really achieved anything other than a good chocolate orange cupcake.
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