I'm back in DC now after a wonderful vacation with my family in San Miguel de Allende. Is it sacrilegious to say I didn't miss the turkey-stuffing-pie Thanksgiving trinity at all? Andy's pastor taco truck, cactus and prickly pear salads, guac every day, mezcal margaritas, chilaquiles in the morning, and the pollo asada tortas (how do they get the bread so fluffy yet firm?) more than distracted me.
On the subject of food, I have one more deal from the Fall that I'm late in announcing. I refuse to finish the year without giving Colleen Taylor Sen's Curry and Beyond it's fair due!
Curry and Beyond, which will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press, is a pioneering exploration of the journey of Indian cuisine in America that fills a significant gap in the history of immigrant foodways. While at least five books have been written on the history of Chinese food in the United States, there has been no comparable work on Indian food in America.
Curry and Beyond begins in colonial times, when ties between India and America were triangulated by Britain, and English versions of Indian dishes like curries and chutneys became standard fare. Immigration from the Subcontinent slowed to a trickle in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with xenophobic laws and attitudes complicating Indians’ social and gastronomic assimilation. Journalists and cookbook writers, along with reformed immigration laws and the emergence of a restaurant culture in India itself, helped change attitudes towards Indians and their food in the latter half of the 20th century.
Colleen's narrative examines key questions, such as how curry came to dominate Americans’ perception of Indian food and how Indian food in America evolved to mirror trends in India. Personal anecdotes and profiles of colorful characters—such as America’s first celebrity “bad boy” chef and the famous cookbook author whose boyfriend was a Mafia don—bring the story to life. As the chronological narrative moves forward, historical photographs, representative menus, and authentic recipes provide readers with a tangible connection to the past and present of Indian food in America.
Colleen is a leading food historian and the author of eight previous books. Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India was named one of the best food books of the year by both Vogue and Smithsonian magazines. Most recently she was the coeditor of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Cuisine, the most comprehensive reference work on Indian cuisine ever published.
Congratulations to Colleen and her editor at Johns Hopkins University Press, Laura Davulis!
Fantastic! Love curry!