Panikos Panayi

Panikos Panayi is Professor of European History. He was born in a Greek Cypriot family which migrated to Britain. He completed his PhD at the University of Sheffield in 1988 on "Germans in Britain during the First World War, 1914-1918" under the supervision of Professor Colin Holmes and is part of the informally recognised Sheffield School of Migration and Prejudice. He is cultural historian and has worked at De Montfort University, Leicester since 1990, becoming professor of European history there in 1999. He writes on the social history of food and immigration. His books have been translated into German, French, and Japanese.

In 2004 he attracted press attention, and was listed under "Know your enemy" on an extreme rightwing forum, by noting that a central element of English cuisine, fish and chips, had foreign origins, since fried fish was Jewish while chips were most likely French. Similarly, ice cream was brought to Britain by Italian street vendors in the 19th century. In his view, the popular perception that food is tied to national identity is wrong; instead, the food people eat indicates the integration of cultures. The global press reaction included the Financial Time`s "Kosher French Connection with Fish and Chips", and the Daily Star headline "Le Great Breetish Feesh and Cheeps: it's Frog Nosh Claims Prof", which according to the historian Stuart Hilton triggered the hostile reaction from extreme rightwing political parties.