After four Indian cookbooks and a book on Asian flavors, including Betty Crocker’s Indian Home Cooking (“Talk about gender-bender! That book is still in print!” he enthuses), Raghavan Iyer branched out. As a chef who, for the last 16 years, has trained other chefs for Bon Appetit Management company about Indian and vegetarian world cuisines, Raghavan wrote a cookbook about potatoes.
Until Smashed, Mashed, Boiled, and Baked–and Fried, Too!: A Celebration of Potatoes in 75 Irresistible Recipes came out last fall, pretty much everything Raghavan did had an Indian bent. That includes his freelance writing, his spice blends, his cooking class for Craftsy, his recipe app, and his private tours of India (including one for Saveur magazine in 2015). Because, well, he’s from India, originally.
But last year, Raghavan did something totally new. He stepped away from Indian cookbooks into new territory. Was it terrifiying? Inspiring? Were people inappropriate about it? Read on:
Q. How did the book about potatoes come about?
A. I was in New York to consult with Saveur on its India issue. I met Susanne Rafer, my editor at Workman, at a Turkish restaurant. She ordered something with potatoes and I said, “How about a book about potatoes?”
The next day I got an email from my agent, Jane Dystel. She said, ‘I heard you had a great dinner with Suzanne. Tell me about your book!’
I wrote a two-page synopsis of the book on the plane back from New York, and that was it.
But when I got the contract, I had a few ‘oh shit’ moments. I thought to myself, ‘You are not an expert on potatoes!’
Q. But you did it. And what was the response when this book came out?
A. One of the biggest questions I always got on my book tour, ‘You must have some great Indian recipes in here.’ It’s not an Indian cookbook. It’s a book that celebrates the brilliance of the potato as the fourth largest crop in the world.
Q. Did the media ask questions like that?
A. Yes. And at book signings, people would say, ‘I love Indian food.’
Q. So how did you feel when you got this kind of response?
A. As a teacher, I thought this is a way for me to educate people. I’ve lived in the US for 35 years. I’ve been here more than half my life. The ‘us against them’ mentality is always here. I’m resigned that I’m going to have to address this until the day I die.
Overall, though, writing the book was a great experience. It was a way to educate myself, do research, see how other cultures have dealt with the potato. It has resonated with people as a single subject book.
Raghavan came up with the idea for a potato cookbook while having lunch with his cookbook editor.
Q. Now you have to figure out what’s next.
A. I also have to figure out – Do I now go back to Indian cookbooks? Do I now look at other cultures? Can I now write about Jewish cooking, for example?
Q. That could be cultural appropriation!
A. But a Jewish person could write about Indian food. Because that person is European American.
Some people like Rick Bayless and Andy Ricker spend enough time on the cuisine to understand it. But maybe not every European American understands the nuances and the culture beyond the food.
Q. You had to figure it out. How did it feel to branch out?
A. It was my way of pushing boundaries. I have an issue about how we’re all pigeonholed.
But it’s still a struggle. After all the books I wrote about Indian cooking, people said they ‘had a friend’ who said I wasn’t doing ‘real’ Indian cooking. I was dammed if I did, and damned if I didn’t.
Q. What do you mean?
A. People say, ‘It’s not what my mother does,’ or it’s not what they think of as Indian cooking. One time I was doing a Bengali cooking concept for a restaurant. I used local fish rubbed with garlic, cardamom, chilies, mustard. I seared it and served it with fresh tomatoes and coconut. One Indian woman from another region, who was not familiar with Bengali styles of cooking, said, ‘This isn’t Indian food.’
I pointed out another table with a Bengali Indian grandmother at it. That woman grabbed my hand and had tears in her eyes. She said, ‘This is my home cooking.”
Q. There’s no such as thing as classic Indian cooking, right?
A. I hate that term. When you’re talking classic, what are you talking about? We didn’t have potatoes and tomatoes in India prior to the 16th Century. Cuisine is dynamic.
Q. Do you like being an expert in something new?
A. That was a big step for me, to write that book. The Idaho Potato Commission hired me to do three events. The US Potato Commission purchased 100 signed books. Now if I am smart, I can do more work promoting potatoes.
R. Iyer is a superb cook and brilliant at explaining otherwise difficult concepts and procedures in everyday, understandable language.
Oh that’s a lovely endorsement, Marty.
Oh thank you so much Marty – xoxo
People can be so wildly inappropriate. I love his candor. Thanks for this interview, Dianne!
You are most welcome. I love his candor too, Carrie. He uses humor to diffuse the inappropriate stuff, but of course, it’s frustrating.
that means a lot – so appreciate it.
Raghavan doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything and that’s one thing that I love about him. He is able to take on gargantuan projects and create something informative and delicious. I love that he didn’t allow himself to be boxed in to one single kind of cuisine or cookbook, being relegated to a stereotype (an Indian chef must only know Indian cuisine). I’d love to see what he could do with another ethnic cuisine! But, then, that stirs up a veery long, deep, and complicated discussion…. which I would love to have with him, too. I have Smashed, Mashed, Boiled, Baked… and Fried, too! and it is filled with creative and tempting recipes. I congratulate him on his successes and his adventurous spirit!
Well aren’t you the sweetest kindest person? It means so much to me your words and your friendship over the years. Yes we can chat buckets over martinis…xoxo
It’s a date, darling xo
Indeed, while it is a book about the humble potato, Raghavan brought such a complicated history to it, not to mention a thorough investigation.
No doubt you met Raghavan at IACP, just as I did. Perhaps you will have this long and complicated discussion with him in February in New York. We’re going, right?
Yes we are indeed going! Dinner?
Yes of course! We can celebrate your book.
The thing to remember about Raghavan is that he is a superb teacher. And to give the most to his students, he will plunge deep into the subject at hand–no half-assed, toss-off-a-few-Googled-bits-of-information “teaching” from him. Which is why the potato book is such a resource. And why I’ll bet he COULD write a book on Jewish food. (BTW: There are, if fact, Indian Jews who have a marvelous food culture; Jewish food is not all herring and brisket, after all!)
[Disclosure: I copyedited his potato book, and learned a ton from it!]
Suzanne – thank you for that – means a lot And yes you did an amazing job with the copyediting. See you in NY. xoxo
I bet he could write an excellent cookbook on all kinds of cuisines and techniques. We’ll see what he comes up with next, and whether the stereotypes linger. (And by the way, Suzanne, I grew up eating Jewish-Indian dishes from Bombay and can attest to their deliciousness.)
Smashed deserves to be a smash — and whether intentional or no, it was a great move for multitalented Raghavan. Every cuisine loves the potato.
Thanks for this interview.
Ellen thank you for your words of support – so so appreciate that.
You are most welcome, Ellen. Thanks for the comment.
This is wonderful. In the Western world, a Japanese cookbook author is expected to write about Japanese food; an Indian author is expected to cook/write about Indian food, and so on, regardless of their actual skills and knowledge. Yet when the author is white, he/she can write a cookbook on any cuisine after “spending time in [country] studying its cuisine” and nobody bats an eye. I hope this will break the ice for others, too. I wonder how many cookbook proposals have been rejected because the author’s race or ethnicity doesn’t match the cuisine.
Yes exactly, Pailin. I think it’s because such a high percentage of the acquisition editors here are white, and they didn’t think about it until the last year or so, when the subject of appropriation came up online and at conferences. Not that we have solved the problem or that people of color have more opportunity now, necessarily. But a few more eyes are open.
One thing I’ve learned from living in a foreign country is often an author (from that country) is more capable of explaining/covering another country’s cooking to their own “people” (for lack of a better word…) since they understand the local sensibilities. That’s why the most successful French cookbooks in America have been written by American authors, or French people who’ve lived in America for a long time. And in some instances, people like Raghavan (or Andy Ricker and Diana Kennedy) have done the research and know more about the local cuisine than the locals. I’ve also learned that just because you are from somewhere, doesn’t mean you are a good cook of your country’s cuisine. There are good and not-so-good cooks in every country.
I was doing a book signing for My Paris Kitchen cookbook in Paris and a Frenchwoman questioned me extensively (which is a nice way of putting it…) about how I, who wasn’t French, could write a book about French cuisine. She was really worked up about it : )
Yes, true. You know what your readers want to learn about being in another country, because you are representing them — an American trying to understand it. And you are capable of losing yourself in research and obsessing over every detail and learning more than your reader ever wants to know. That French woman doesn’t know you very well, obviously!
And certainly not every French person cares about writing a cookbook or writing on a subject that you are passionate about. In fact, they might wonder why you care so much!
It’s different for people of color, though. It’s harder to get in the door, regardless of how hard they work. For Raghavan, it’s wonderful that his agent and editor accepted his potato book so easily, because they knew he would do a superior job.
well said
Delightful interview. Please go around the world again – and write a book about cooking over fire. So many cultures have different methods of cooking over fire – how they construct their grills, and the types of food they make on them. I want to know!
Thank you Elle. Ragahavan, here’s a free idea for you for your next book!
that’s an intriguing concept…thanks
Great inspiring post. Sad I didn’t have the opportunity to host a cooking class with you Raghavan for this one!
Thank you Joan. You never know — he could be back with a new book. We just don’t know about what.
thanks Joan – we can always make that happen…