- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Random House Trade; Reprint edition (April 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0812971078
- ISBN-13: 978-0812971071
- Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 1.3 x 20.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 521,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Shoba Narayan’s Monsoon Diary weaves a fascinating food narrative that combines delectable Indian recipes with tales from her life, stories of her delightfully eccentric family, and musings about Indian culture.
Narayan recounts her childhood in South India, her college days in America, her arranged marriage, and visits from her parents and in-laws to her home in New York City. Monsoon Diary is populated with characters like Raju, the milkman who named his cows after his wives; the iron-man who daily set up shop in Narayan’s front yard, picking up red-hot coals with his bare hands; her mercurial grandparents and inventive parents. Narayan illumines Indian customs while commenting on American culture from the vantage point of the sympathetic outsider. Her characters, like Narayan herself, have a thing or two to say about cooking and about life.
In this creative and intimate work, Narayan’s considerable vegetarian cooking talents are matched by stories as varied as Indian spices—at times pungent, mellow, piquant, and sweet. Tantalizing recipes for potato masala, dosa, and coconut chutney, among others, emerge from Narayan’s absorbing tales about food and the solemn and quirky customs that surround it.
Narayan recounts her childhood in South India, her college days in America, her arranged marriage, and visits from her parents and in-laws to her home in New York City. Monsoon Diary is populated with characters like Raju, the milkman who named his cows after his wives; the iron-man who daily set up shop in Narayan’s front yard, picking up red-hot coals with his bare hands; her mercurial grandparents and inventive parents. Narayan illumines Indian customs while commenting on American culture from the vantage point of the sympathetic outsider. Her characters, like Narayan herself, have a thing or two to say about cooking and about life.
In this creative and intimate work, Narayan’s considerable vegetarian cooking talents are matched by stories as varied as Indian spices—at times pungent, mellow, piquant, and sweet. Tantalizing recipes for potato masala, dosa, and coconut chutney, among others, emerge from Narayan’s absorbing tales about food and the solemn and quirky customs that surround it.
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First Sentence
THE FIRST FOODS that I ate were rice and ghee. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
THE FIRST FOODS that I ate were rice and ghee. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book has a delicious combination of life in India and exotic Indian food. The author revisits her childhood in her grandmother's house in South India, dwelling on her grandmothers love and attention, and the preparation of food in her house. The book includes recipies of some dishes and describes them in mouthwatering detail. I enjoyed this book immensly. A good buy for anyone with culinary interest in India.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In all cultures, traditional foods shared with family become so integral to our inner lives that certain occasions are associated with certain foods forevermore. From her childhood though her arranged marriage twenty-five years later, author Narayan shares her own memories, recalling the foods which made them rich and vivid.
Narayan’s memoir is charming and sensitive, both to the cultural differences between South Asia and the United States, and to the realities of family life in both places. Through food she bridges the differences between our cultures and makes day-to-day life in each place understandable and accessible to people of other backgrounds. Mothers, with their desire to provide familiar foods for their families at year-round celebrations, are similar the world over, and Narayan uses them as the common denominator in our lives. As she shows us, everyone understands the universal maternal command, "Eat, eat." Mary Whipple
Format:Paperback
Shoba's delightful memoir takes in the closeness of her extended family in India and her early years with them.
When Shoba tells her family that she wants to study in the US, and has indeed won a scholarship to enable her to do this, the reaction from her family is negative. Why can't she study from home? How will she look after herself? A bargain is struck - she must cook a full meal, to their satisfaction, before they will consider her request. Shoba has shown no interest in cooking before, so they feel sure she will fail. She proves them wrong and leaves home.
Later the question of marriage is raised. Will Shoba be able to adjust to the idea of arranged marriage after her time in the US?
Throughout this memoir food plays a large part - large family get-togethers with food lovingly cooked - Shoba's increasing interest in the food of her heritage. There are many mouthwatering recipes, some of which look easy enough to cook - and I can't wait to try them out.
A lovely book, with recipes to illustrate - do try it!
When Shoba tells her family that she wants to study in the US, and has indeed won a scholarship to enable her to do this, the reaction from her family is negative. Why can't she study from home? How will she look after herself? A bargain is struck - she must cook a full meal, to their satisfaction, before they will consider her request. Shoba has shown no interest in cooking before, so they feel sure she will fail. She proves them wrong and leaves home.
Later the question of marriage is raised. Will Shoba be able to adjust to the idea of arranged marriage after her time in the US?
Throughout this memoir food plays a large part - large family get-togethers with food lovingly cooked - Shoba's increasing interest in the food of her heritage. There are many mouthwatering recipes, some of which look easy enough to cook - and I can't wait to try them out.
A lovely book, with recipes to illustrate - do try it!
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