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| FIRST ANNUAL IAAC LITERARY FESTIVAL |
in collaboration with The South Asia Institute,
Columbia University and India Abroad
NOVEMBER 7-9, 2014
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Session 4B.
Cooking up tales: the hot new genre of food writing
Moderated by Surbhi Sahni
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| Padma Lakshmi |
 Padma Lakshmi established herself as a food expert early on in her career, having hosted two successful cooking shows and writing a best-selling cookbook Easy Exotic, for which she won the International Versailles Event for best cookbook by a first time writer. Lakshmi followed this success with the publication of her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet, released by Weinstein Books which has over 150 recipes from around the world alongside intriguing personal memoirs.
Lakshmi hosted “Padma’s Passport” on The Food Network where she cooked diverse cuisine from around the world. Lakshmi has also hosted “Planet Food,” a documentary series broadcast on The Food Network and worldwide on the Discovery Channel. She journeyed to countries such as Spain and India. Lakshmi is Emmy nominated for her role as host and judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef” which has recently been awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Competition Show.
On the screen, Lakshmi was last seen as a guest star on Royal Pains. She was also last seen in Aishwarya Rai and Dylan McDermott in Paul Mayeda Berges' newest film “Mistress of Spices.” She then played Princess Bithia in ABC's much anticipated mini-series “The Ten Commandments” alongside Naveen Andrews (“Lost”), Omar Sharif and Dougray Scott. Lakshmi also recently starred in BBC America’s “Sharpe’s Challenge” opposite Sean Bean. She has appeared in films in the US, Italy, and India. Other television credits include hosting Rai Television's “Domenica In,” Italy’s highest rated program.
Lakshmi is also an accomplished writer. In addition to her food writing, she has contributed to such magazines as American Vogue, Gourmet and British and American Harper's Bazaar. |
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Floyd Cardoz
One Spice Two Spice
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 Floyd Cardoz is a celebrated Indian American chef. Chef Cardoz was most recently Executive Chef of North End Grill, a seasonal American restaurant and bar owned by Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, which he left in April 2014 to pursue personal culinary projects that focus back to his roots of cooking with Indian flavors, explore a project in India, and work on his forthcoming cookbook (Artisan, 2015).
Chef Cardoz was the Executive Chef/Partner of Tabla, a beloved restaurant celebrating his groundbreaking New Indian cuisine that expertly married the sensual flavors and spices of his native land with Western technique. Under his leadership, Tabla received numerous accolades from the press (including Three-Stars from The New York Times) and was considered among New York’s most popular restaurants. After 12 incredible years hosting countless life celebrations, Tabla closed its doors in December 2010.
One Spice, Two Spice (William Morrow Cookbooks), includes his favorite recipes, demystifies Indian food and flavors and teaching budding cooks how to expertly add Indian spices to American cuisine.
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Krishnendu Ray
The Migrant’s Table |
 Krishnendu Ray is an Associate Professor in food studies and Chair of the Department of Nutrition,Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. Prior to joining NYU in 2005, he was a faculty member and an Associate Dean for Curriculum Development at The Culinary Institute of America. A food studies scholar with interests in the social and historical contexts of food production and consumption, he is the author of The Migrant’s Table (Temple University, 2004) and the co-editor of Curried Cultures: Globalization, Food and South Asia (University of California Press, 2012). His forthcoming book (from Bloomsbury, 2016) is titled The Ethnic Restaurateur and the American City. |
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| Jehangir Mehta |
 Chef Jehangir Mehta is the owner of two restaurants in New York City, a cookbook author, a former contestant on The Next Iron Chef, and a father of two.
Chef Jehanigir Mehta’s passion for the culinary arts began in his own family’s kitchen in Mumbai. He began formal training at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and from there went on to his first job at L’Absinthe in New York. Since then, Chef Mehta has worked at and helped to open a series of renowned restaurants and solidified his reputation for creating unorthodox, intellectually driven desserts. Chef Mehta opened Graffiti in the East Village of New York City in 2007 after being highly acclaimed at New York City restaurants including Aix, Compass, and Jean-Georges. Over the years, he has been seen on many national television programs such as Martha!, as well as being a contestant on Iron Chef America and The Next Iron Chef. He opened a second restaurant, Mehtaphor, in 2010. |
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| Beena Kamlani |
 Beena Kamlani’s fiction has been published in many magazines and anthologies and won a Pushcart Prize in 2009. She is also senior editor at Viking Penguin, where she worked closely with Saul Bellow until his death in 2005, and Robert Fagles on his translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and Virgil’s Aeneid. She taught book editing at New York University for eighteen years, and was presented the university’s award for teaching excellence in 2002. She now teaches editing for writers and editors at Hunter College.
Born in India and educated in England, she has a B.A. (Hons.) and an M.A. in English and American Literature, and European Literature Since 1850. |
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| Suvir Saran |
 Suvir Saran - Renowned for his accessible approach to Indian flavors and techniques, Saran has penned three cookbooks: Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food, with More Than 150 Recipes (Clarkson Potter, 2004) with Stephanie Lyness; American Masala: 125 New Classics from My Home Kitchen (Clarkson Potter, 2007) with Raquel Pelzel; and Masala Farm: Stories and Recipes from an Uncommon Life in the Country (Chronicle Books, 2011) with Charlie Burd and Raquel Pelzel. Masala Farm was a James Beard Award finalist for Best American Cookbook for 2011. His recipes have been featured in publications such as Bon Appétit, Cooking Light, Food & Wine, Fine Cooking, Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Departures, InStyle, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, as well as many others. He is a contributor to Food Arts magazine. He has been a featured judge on Next Iron Chef and Iron Chef on the Food Network and has had numerous appearances on national and local broadcasts. In spring 2011, Suvir was a break out star on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters, cooking to raise money for the Agricultural Stewardship Association.
Most recently, Saran was Executive Chef/Owner at Devi in New York City, where he shared the authentic flavors of Indian home cooking with guests. Under Saran’s leadership, Devi consistently received popular and critical acclaim and earned a three-star rating from New York magazine and two stars from the New York Times. It was the first Indian restaurant in the U.S. to earn a Michelin star.
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Surbhi Sahni
Executive Chef & Co-founder Bittersweet NYC
Executive Pastry chef Tulsi restaurant |
 Acclaimed for expertly combining traditional Indian ingredients with a blend of Indian, European and American pastry techniques,
Surbhi Sahni has created sublime desserts, like Ginger Panna Cotta and Mango Cheesecake, over the past 15 years for such New York high-end Indian restaurants as Tulsi, Dévi, Amma and Tamarind; as well as trained in the pastry kitchens at Picholine, davidburke & donatella and Between the Bread.
Her desserts have been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Esquire, New York Daily News, Time Out New York and Food Arts. She holds a bachelor’s degree in hotel management from India’s Manipal School of Hotel Administration and a master’s degree in food studies and food management from New York University.
She is currently the Executive Pastry chef at Tulsi Restaurant and has her own Wedding cake and Dessert company Bittersweet NYC. |
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