Dame Helen Mirren takes Marmite with her when filming abroad.

The Academy Award-winning actress revealed her cravings for British food have led her to packing a jar of Marmite and spare teabags for when she is travelling abroad, and she can't resist taking a few porridge oats now and again.

She explained: ''When we're filming, I always take teabags and Marmite. That's all I need, although I occasionally take some porridge oats.''

Helen - whose latest film 'The Hundred Foot Journey' features her as a snooty French restaurant owner who is against the arrival of an Indian chef at a rival eatery - admitted that the meal she craves the most while away from home is a curry.

She added to Radio Times magazine: ''The curious thing is that when I'm away from England the cuisine I crave is Indian food. My husband and I, when we come back from filming abroad or from holiday, our first port of call is the Lahore restaurant. Just off Commercial Road.

''In a weird way, Indian food has become British food, my home food.''