The Napoleonic Wars of 1810, the army officers of Britain, unable to stomach the hardy armyfare, found that they could have quality food packages send to them to the war front, from Fortnum and Mason. As Britain’s East India Company prospered, the Indian market also expanded and at one time there were three Fortnums working in India to manage the business, and there were Fortnums in the Company Headquarters itself, referred to by their English cousins as "the Indians". It will come as surprise to no one that they spelt their name Fortnom.

The British Royal Warrant of Appointment to provide "Royal Beef Tea" to Queen Victoria came in 1863. Charles Dickens was a regular customer, and the British Prime Minister Gladstone consulted them on the price of sugar. In 1886, Heinz of USA made them their British agents. The shop had its quota of political troubles also, when in the first decades of the 20th Century, Miss Pankhurst — the woman’s Suffragette leader threw stones at its glass windows to protest against the "British Establishment" represented by this elite firm.

If you go to their tea section, the staff would like to know as to which part of the world you are from, as they would like to match the teas with the different "waters" in your country. I was surprised to find hundreds of varieties of tea, ranging from Darjeeling (15 £ 1080, to the fabulous Oblong tea of Taiwan, priced at 85 £ or nearly Rs 6,000 per kg.

As it was nearing Christmas, the famous stores was crowded. The salesman took me to the coffee section, joking politely with the manager in charge that he wanted to sell the favourite flavours of coffee for the elite. It was the Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee priced at Rs 6,000 per kg and reputedly the best coffee in the world.

If you want the famous "truffles" — an edible and highly-prized fungus for the Western tastes, well..... a 13 gm jar would cost you Rs 1500. All kinds of exotic delicacies were available. The Imperial Beluga Caviar, reserved once exclusively for the Czars of Russia, was available at Rs 7500 for a 50 gm tin (It works out at Rs 150,000 per kg, the speciality being that this caviar has the largest grains. If you cannot afford this quality well there are plebian qualities of Iranian caviar available, at Rs 60,000 per kg. The expert in the caviar section had a kind word for Indian royalty. They said that the maharajas popularised a strange combination of papadums and caviar.

From caviars to honey for vegetarians, it is a long leap. But Fortnum & Masons have a complete counter for exotic honeys. The cheapest, the British Cornish wildflower honey, was Rs 710 per kg and costliest was Polish Silver Fir honey at Rs 1300 per kg, a very rare and unusual honey, gathered from the sweet swap found in the fir forests of southern Poland during spring and early summer". (In India our best brands cost about Rs 300 per kg.

But Christmas is synonymous with cakes and the elite prefer Fortnum’s Smuggler’s Cake priced at Rs 1800 per kg: "A rich brandy fruit cake with a legendary title, arising from its plethora of overseas ingredients". There are 14 varieties of exotic cakes listed and if you want to send it to your friend, in a premium gift box (extra price Rs 720) you can do so. Or if your friend would prefer chocolates in a silk chocolate box (covered with raw silk fabric) it would cost you about Rs 7200 rupee per kg. (The cheapest chocolates would be at Rs 2000 per kg.

Champagnes start from Rs 720 for a half bottle and go upto Rs 6000 a bottle of Blanc de Chardonnay 1990 vintage. A box of cigars "Cohiba Esplendidos" the type President Fidel Castro smokes would be at Rs 44000 for a box of 25! Christmas hampers are a speciality of Fortnum & Masons and start at Rs 2200 and go up to Rs 50,000.