Jaffrey, Madhur 1933- (Madhur Bahadur)

PERSONAL:

Born August 13, 1933, in Delhi, India; immigrated to London, England; married Saeed Jaffrey (an actor; divorced, 1964); married Sanford Allen (a violinist), 1969; children: (first marriage) Zia, Meera, Sakina. Education: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (with honors), graduated 1957.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY.

CAREER:

Writer, actor, producer. Host of television series Far Eastern Cookery, BBC, 1989. Actress in films, including Parable, 1964; Shakespeare-Wallah, 1965; Antkeeper, 1966; The Guru, 1969; Autobiography of a Princess, 1975; Heat and Dust, 1983; Saagar, 1985; The Assam Garden, 1985; The Perfect Murder, 1988; Six Degrees of Separation, 1993; (uncredited) Wolf, 1994; Vanya on 42nd Street, 1994; Chutney Popcorn, 1999; (and executive producer) ABCD, 1999; Flawless, 1999; (and codirector) Cotton Mary, 1999; Grasp, 2002; (as herself) The Heaven and Earth Show, 2003; (as herself) Breakfast, 2005; Prime, 2005; Hiding Divya, 2006; A Season of Madness, 2006; and Partition, 2007. Actress in television series, including Firm Friends, 1992; Ghostwriter, four episodes, 1993; Holby City, 2001; EastEnders, six episodes, 2003; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, 2005; Law & Order: Criminal Intent, 2006. Actress in television films, including The Wandering Company, 1984; The Peacock Spring, 1996; Cosmopolitan, 2003; and The Papdits, 2006.

AWARDS, HONORS:

James Beard Award, for Madhur Jaffrey's Taste of the Far East.

WRITINGS:

COOKBOOKS

(Self-illustrated) An Invitation to Indian Cooking, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 1973, with new preface, Ecco Press (Hopewell, NJ), 1999.

Madhur Jaffrey's World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking, illustrated by Susan Gaber, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 1981.

Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery (companion to television series), BBC Books (London, England), 1982, published as Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking, Barron's (Woodbury, NY), 1983, revised edition, 2003.

Eastern Vegetarian Cooking, Jonathan Cape (London, England), 1983.

A Taste of India, food photography by Christine Hanscomb, location photography by Henry Wilson, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1986.

Madhur Jaffrey's Cookbook: Easy East/West Menus for Family and Friends, illustrated by Lauren Jarrett, Harper & Row (New York, NY), 1989.

Madhur Jaffrey's Far Eastern Cookery, Perennial Library (New York, NY), 1989.

(Self-illustrated) Madhur Jaffrey's Spice Kitchen: Fifty Recipes Introducing Indian Spices and Aromatic Seeds, Carol Southern Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Madhur Jaffrey's A Taste of the Far East, Carol Southern Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Quick & Easy Indian Cookery, BBC/Parkwest (Jersey City, NJ), 1994.

Madhur Jaffrey's Illustrated Indian Cookery, 1994, revised edition, BBC Books (London, England), 2002.

Flavors of India: Classics and New Discoveries, Carol Southern Books (New York, NY), 1995, published as Madhur Jaffrey's Flavours of India, BBC Books (London, England), 1995.

Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking, photography by Philip Salverry, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 1996.

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian: More Than 750 Meatless Recipes from Around the Globe, Clarkson Potter (New York, NY), 1999.

Madhur Jaffrey's Step-by-Step Cookery, Ebury Press (London, England), 2000, published as Madhur Jaffrey's Step-by-Step Cooking: Over 150 Dishes from India and the Far East, Including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 2001.

From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail, Clarkson Potter (New York, NY), 2003.

OTHER

Seasons of Splendour: Tales, Myths, & Legends of India (juvenile; Hindu mythology), illustrated by Michael Foreman, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1985.

Market Days: From Market to Market around the World (juvenile), illustrated by Marti Shohet, Bridgewater Books (Mahwah, NJ), 1995.

Robi Dobi: The Marvelous Adventures of an Indian Elephant (juvenile), illustrated by Amanda Hall, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1997.

Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2006.

ADAPTATIONS:

Books adapted for video include Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery, BBC, 1991.

SIDELIGHTS:

Madhur Jaffrey has enjoyed dual careers as an actress and a writer, primarily of cookbooks. Born in India, she moved to London at the age of nineteen to study acting. She longed for home-cooked Indian food, but since she had never cooked while living with her mother, she began a correspondence with her, asking questions, receiving answers and recipes, and began to cook for herself. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Jaffrey began her acting career in film and television. She moved to New York and wrote food articles, soon becoming a well-known cooking personality on television programs and through her many books.

Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking is a companion book to Jaffrey's BBC television series. In this volume she notes the history of Indian cooking and outside influences that have resulted in its uniqueness. A Taste of India is not only a collection of recipes but a broader study of the country. Jaffrey includes recipes collected from Indian households of various cultures, classes, and regions over fifteen years and notes that twenty major languages and one thousand dialects can be found in her home country. Foods vary as widely as they do in the regions of the United States, with mild lamb and yogurt dishes popular in the north, and southern areas favoring hot and spicy vegetarian dishes.

Nation's Restaurant News contributor Michael Schrader called Madhur Jaffrey's Far Eastern Cookery "another classic." This cookbook features nearly two hundred recipes from eight countries. Madhur Jaffrey's Cookbook: Easy East/West Menus for Family and Friends contains recipes that pair up Eastern and Western foods.

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian: More Than 750 Meatless Recipes from Around the Globe is a large volume of recipes, many of which are based on grains such rice as a main ingredient, as well as corn, and the many varieties of legumes, and the vegetables used to accompany them in dishes from various countries. "Obviously a labor of love, Jaffrey's masterwork is breathtaking in scope," noted Judith C. Sutton in Library Journal.

Madhur Jaffrey's Step-by-Step Cooking: Over 150 Dishes from India and the Far East, Including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia is a collection of recipes that represents eight different cuisines, with accompanying photographs of both dishes and the geographies of the countries. In another review in the Nation's Restaurant News, Schrader wrote: "Jaffrey's role is that of an eloquent guide, initially stating the essence of the cuisine and then showing us how it has changed in the course of time and how it is served currently in various settings."

Jaffrey is the author of children's books, including Market Days: From Market to Market around the World, in which Jaffrey gives children a tour of markets in such diverse countries as Mexico, India, Italy, Egypt, Senegal, and Hong Kong. Robi Dobi: The Marvelous Adventures of an Indian Elephant is a picture book about an elephant who befriends everyone who needs help, from a mouse painted orange by a snake witch to a butterfly with a broken wing. Jaffrey incorporates Indian lore into her story, which Horn Book reviewer Ann A. Flowers described as "a refreshingly naive and satisfying tale for younger readers." Robi Dobi was invented by the author's father when she was a child.

Jaffrey's Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India is a recollection of her early years growing up as one of six children in a prosperous Indian family and an account of the history of the time, including the partition of India and the Western influence under British rule. Jaffrey notes that the root of her name, Madhu, means "sweet as honey" and tells how her grandmother wrote the word "om" with honey on her newborn tongue. "Readers will lap up this mouthwatering memoir and hungrily await a sequel," concluded a Kirkus Reviews contributor.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Jaffrey, Madhur, Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 1995, Mary Harris Veeder, review of Market Days: From Market to Market around the World, p. 1503; November 15, 1999, Mark Knoblauch, review of Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian: More than 750 Meatless Recipes from Around the Globe, p. 589; July, 2001, John Green, review of Robi Dobi: The Marvelous Adventures of an Indian Elephant, p. 2006; October 1, 2006, Mark Knoblauch, review of Climbing the Mango Trees, p. 14.

Horn Book, July-August, 1997, Ann A. Flowers, review of Robi Dobi, p. 456.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2006, review of Climbing the Mango Trees, p. 711.

Library Journal, November 15, 1999, Judith C. Sutton, review of Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, p. 92; December, 2001, Judith C. Sutton, review of Madhur Jaffrey's Step-by-Step Cooking: Over 150 Dishes from India and the Far East, Including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia, p. 160.

Nation's Restaurant News, May 15, 1989, Michael Schrader, review of Madhur Jaffrey's Cookbook: Easy East/West Menus for Family and Friends, p. 97; January 8, 1990, Michael Schrader, review of Madhur Jaffrey's Far Eastern Cookery, p. 92; January 17, 1994, Michael Schrader, review of Madhur Jaffrey's Taste of the Far East, p. 35.

New Statesman, October 17, 2005, Michele Roberts, review of Climbing the Mango Trees, p. 57.

New York Times, January 26, 2000, Amanda Hesser, review of Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, p. P5.

O, The Oprah Magazine, October, 2006, review of Climbing the Mango Trees, p. 242.

People, December 8, 1986, Bonnie Johnson and Mary Vespa, review of A Taste of India, p. 181; November 6, 2006, Michelle Green, review of Climbing the Mango Trees, p. 43.

Publishers Weekly, February 20, 1995, review of Market Days, p. 205; June 16, 1997, review of Robi Dobi, p. 59; October 4, 1999, review of Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, p. 69; August 14, 2006, review of Climbing the Mango Trees, p. 193.

Restaurants & Institutions, April 1, 1995, "The Scoop on Indian Spices: Madhur Jaffrey" (interview), p. 76.

Time, November 21, 1983, Michael Demarest, review of Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking, p. 88.

Time International (Europe edition), December 4, 2006, Don Morrison, review of Climbing the Mango Trees, p. 52.