I sincerely thank everyone for your congratulatory messages and good wishes on my Recipe Book ANGLO-INDIAN CUISINE – A LEGACY OF FLAVOURS FROM THE PAST being selected as Winner from India under BEST CULINARY HISTORY BOOK Category for the BEST IN THE WORLD AWARD Finals at THE GOURMAND WORLD COOK BOOKS AWARDS 2012 at Paris on 23rd Feb 2013.
My journey started in 2002 when I started redoing all the old recipes from my mum’s and grand mum’s handwritten recipe Books . Through trial and error and much experimentation, I revamped the recipes giving accurate measurements for easily available ingredients and simplifying the cooking techniques so that most of the dishes could be cooked in a short time unlike in the olden days when cooking took the whole day. I then took photographs of all the dishes and recorded all the recipes in a manuscript running to more than 500 pages.
I sent this manuscript of 500 pages to many Publishers in Delhi, the heart of India’s Publishing Hub. However, sad to say many of them didn’t know much about our Community and were not aware that we had our own special cuisine. I then decided to bring out the Books myself. My first book came out in 2004 under the banner SYD-DOR PUBLICATIONS, which is the first 3 lettes of my parents names SYDNEY AND DORIS. After that I regularly brought out 7 more books under different categories of Anglo-Indian Food which were all culled from the original manuscript.
The journey was quite tough and arduous. I wasn’t certain whether I would even recover my investment in getting the books printed but by the Grace of God, my books were very well received all over the world. Of course there were both Bouquets and Brickbats along the way. I’m now recognized as an Author, Food Consultant and Culinary Historian in Anglo-Indian Cuisine, as my area of expertise is in Colonial Anglo-Indian Food and I have gone through a lot of effort in reviving the old forgotten dishes of the Colonial British Raj Era. My 7 Recipe books are a means of preserving for posterity, the very authentic tastes and flavours of Colonial Anglo India, besides recording for future generations, the unique heritage of the pioneers of Anglo-Indian Cuisine.
The culmination of all my efforts is this Award of being declared ‘Winner’ from India under the Category “BEST CULINARY HISTORY BOOK “ and thereby competing for the BEST IN THE WORLD AWARD Finals at THE GOURMAND WORLD COOK BOOKS AWARDS 2012 at Paris on 23rd Feb 2013.
All this has been possible only because of the Love and encouragement that my family especially my late husband Ashok has given me. He gave me the freedom to pursue my passion and never stood in my way at any time. He was my official taster and critic and was very proud of my achievements. I dedicate this award to Ashok, Kusum, Jude and Lisa.
