Madhur Jaffrey

Cookbook Author, Chef, Actress

Early Years

Born in Delhi, India in 1937, Madhur Jaffrey is one of the world's foremost authorities on Indian cuisine, although she started out as a professional actress. Moving from Delhi to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Jaffrey has had multiple careers as a journalist, illustrator, restaurateur, cookbook author and actress. She has appeared in numerous television and radio plays, on Broadway, and in films.

Relocating to New York in the early eighties, Madhur Jaffrey married, had three children, and pursued her acting career. After her first marriage ended, she found comfort in preparing the food of her native country, and her career as an internationally acclaimed chef and cookbook writer was launched. While her acting continues to bring her fame in front of the camera, it is her culinary expertise in the kitchen that has brought her even greater fame.

Madhur Jaffrey's culinary expertise transcends Indian cuisine, embracing Indonesian, Thai, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, and Italian cooking. In her world travels she has found a growing cross-culturization between many of the world's great cuisines, and the diversity and variety of her cultural and culinary experiences are evident in every recipe she prepares, class she teaches, and book she writes.

Recognition

Her first book was appropriately titled An Invitation to Indian Cooking. (1973), and she hasn't stopped writing since. Jaffrey's impressive list of cookbooks includes:

• Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cookbook (1987)
• "Madhur Jaffrey's A Taste of the Far East" (1993) which was voted Best International Cookbook and Book of the Year by the James Beard Foundation
• Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking (1996)
• Madhur Jaffrey's Flavors of India (1998)
• Madhur Jaffrey's Step-By-Step Cooking: Over 150 Dishes from India and the Far East (2001)
• Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian (1999) was voted Best International Cookbook 2000 by the James Beard Foundation.

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian is a comprehensive collection of 650 recipes that showcase the best of the world's vegetarian fare, and like all of Jaffrey's books, personal notes, cultural anecdotes, and simple preparation and nutritional information are included to make the cooking and learning that much more interesting.

While Madhur Jaffrey knows and loves food from all over the world, her heart is still in India, widely acknowledged as one of the world's great cuisines. Her passion for cooking, writing, and acting have definitely made Madhur Jaffrey one of India's most creative ambassadors.