Podcast

Presented by Colleen Taylor Sen

• What ‘ethnic food” is universally popular among Indians?
• Who is known as India’s Julia Child?
• What Italian restaurateur opened a restaurant called “the Maxim’s of the East?”
• How are lichens used in Indian cuisine? 
• How do Indian Jews celebrate Purim?

Chicago-based Indian food authority and author Colleen Sen will answer these and many more questions when she dishes on the stories in her soon-to-be published work, the new Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Cuisine. Colleen was one of three editors of this massive 450-page tome that has more than 200 entries written by leading food writers in India and abroad. The entries cover city and state cuisines, famous restaurants, iconic dishes, food and medicine, cooking utensils, and much more.

Copies of the book can be preordered from via Culinary Historians (note retail price is $175), please send us an email with zip code for a quote.  A PDF or e-version is available on the Bloomsbury website  for S126.   

She has written eight books, among them Food Culture in India, Curry: A Global History, and Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India. In 2017 Colleen coedited The Chicago Food Encyclopedia. Her books have been translated into Arabic, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. She has also organized many culinary tours of Indian stores and has given talks and cooking demonstrations on Indian cuisine.