In On the Curry Trail, Iyer takes that history in stride, illuminating how “curry,” as it’s known today, has been shaped by colonialism and migration. Commercial curry powder - which often includes a set flavor profile of spices like turmeric, black pepper, coriander, cumin, ginger, and fenugreek - was exported from India by British colonists, a one-size-fits-all approximation of Indian dishes as diverse as rogan josh and chana masala.
The term “curry,” of course, has received its fair share of criticism: Though commonly associated with Indian cuisine, it lumps together spiced, usually saucy dishes from places as far-flung as Sri Lanka and Jamaica. But this time, Iyer broadened his lens, distilling a new subject - the unruly, continent-traversing history of curry itself - into a digestible and ultimately delicious format. He applied this skill to his final cookbook, On the Curry Trail: Chasing the Flavor That Seduced the World in 50 Recipes, which was published just weeks before his passing. Over the course of seven cookbooks - including the potato-centric Smashed, Mashed, Boiled, and Baked and the best-selling 660 Curries, which covers classic Indian curry dishes in great breadth - Iyer became known for his ability to drill recipes down to their essential elements and techniques, making dishes approachable in execution and, most importantly, delectable. He later set roots down in the Twin Cities, where a 1999 deal with Betty Crocker jump-started his career as a prolific cookbook author, and his penchant for Indian cooking became the centerpiece of his life’s work. There, he yearned to find cuisine in line with his palate and vegetarian sensibilities, and eventually trained himself to cook Indian recipes. Iyer left his native Mumbai for the small town of Marshall, Minnesota at age 21.
Next week, the Twin Cities community will gather to celebrate the life of James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Raghavan Iyer, a titan of the food world who passed away due to pneumonia complicated by a five-year fight with colorectal cancer in March, at age 61.Īttempting to sum up Iyer’s impact on the Twin Cities food scene - and more broadly on Indian cuisine in America - is a tall order.
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