The Indian actress and food writer hailed as the instigator of introducing the Western world to Indian cuisine:
May I begin by telling you my initial memories of this woman: like the majority of food written about in literature Madhur Jaffery's first appearance in my life was as a softly spoken TV personality who my father insisted I watch, saying "Granny used to cook that" in regular intervals; so when I came across her cookbook Eastern Vegetarian Cooking (1983) amongst various other Asian cookbooks that belonged to my Granny, I knew at once that this was the book with which to centre my assignment on. Like Jaffery, my Granny was born in India and, despite doing little cooking herself as a young girl, grew up practising and valuing the culinary skills and knowledge in being able to cook rich and aromatic dishes, and pass them on to other generations like my mother and myself.
The acknowledgments and introduction to several of her books draw on her experiences of food, and although they differ in their uses of ingredients, the tone and format of her writing remains consistant throughout. Jaffery reiterates the link between food, literature and memory as she goes on to tell you how she accumulated the recipes within the book and reveal the secrets of producing a multitude of different dishes from mere potatoes and aubergines.
Now regarded by many food writers as the number one authority on Indian food, it is rather ironic that her career did not start out as such - growing up as a child in India Jaffery barely knew anything about cooking and it wasn't until she moved to London that she learnt to cook some dishes reminiscent of her mother's cooking in her late teens. Following her award-winning performance in Shakespeare Wallah (1965) she became known as "the actress who could cook" and was snapped up by the BBC to present a show on Indian cooking; the 1960s was where her career really took off. Not long after flattering reviews about her and her cooking started to emerge had she been recognised by the New York Times and recieved her first book contract which produced An Invitation to Indian Cooking (1973).
Jaffery's prestige spans across all forms of media as well as literature: she is the notable author of over fifteen books on Indian, Asian and vegetarian cuisine, she has appeared in over twenty films, opened restaurants in New York, and has developed a line of of commercial cooking sauces to name just a few.
Below are a selection of some of her popular cookbooks and a link to her current website as well as Eastern Vegetarian Cooking:
Madhur Jaffery's Curry Nation
