An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey
New to BBC Radio 4 Extra. 4 Extra celebrates the 90th birthday of well-known Indian-born food and travel writer, and TV cook, Madhur Jaffrey (13/08/1933). Madhur’s work was seminal in introducing Indian and Asian cooking to the UK and USA.
Her first cookbook, ‘An Invitation to Indian Cooking’, was an instant hit in 1973.
By then, Ms Jaffrey was already a Broadway name, living in New York. The Jaffreys' dinner parties were hugely popular, in part because of Madhur’s wonderful cooking, and attended by many celebrities, such as Merchant and Ivory. She made her name from her family recipes, sent by her mother in letters from home, and their enthusiastic reception culminated in her first legendary publication.
Leading dramatist Anjum Malik used this iconic cookbook to create a drama series charting how the book came about but, just as importantly, mapping Ms Jaffrey’s acting career. Featuring her childhood love of acting, through training at RADA, and on to her success in global cinema, winning the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance in Shakespeare Wallah, at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965.
Starring Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, The Fall) as Madhur and Raj Ghatak as Ismail Merchant, her close friend and colleague.
In the first episode, Madhur takes us back to her childhood in Delhi, where her love of food was equalled by her love of acting, with Marlon Brando her cinematic role model.
- Producer: Polly Thomas
- Executive Producer: Darby Dorras
- A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 2021.
Publicity contact: FK
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