CHAT WITH THE URBAN RAJAH

INTERVIEW BY MARIANNE VOYLE

Having grown up in Britain with a rich family history of food and travel, author and traveller Ivor Peters wants not only to share his precious recipes and skills for authentic Indian dishes, but to inspire the sense of adventure, community and good deeds that come hand-in-hand with great food. With his infectious laugh, great stories and passion for all things spicy, we’re big fans of The Urban Rajah, and you will be too.

After working in publishing and running a PR agency, Ivor guided his career path towards his passion for food, which would have been “a life of Pot Noodles” had he not learned to re-create the food he grew up on. He has now been cooking for 20 years, and his new book, The Urban Rajah’s Curry Memoirs, is an almost edible scrapbook that will engross you in hilarious and touching family stories laced with the recipes - even religious experiences relating to lamb chops. “My dad and his brothers were raised in Karachi, but they left and travelled through the Middle East and Europe. I was interested in understanding their journey and the food that followed them, and I knew that unless I wrote their stories, as in most Asian households, it would only be passed on verbally.”

Did he have to conduct some intense, family interviews for book research? I asked. “I had to really work on them!” he laughs, and tells me how casually telling his father about a masala dish he’d made would spark a story about his grandmother and her own masala recipes. “I think that recipes definitely taste better when they've got a story attached to it.”

Being such a personal account of his family history, I wanted to know why he chose to divulge his secrets. “Indian food is such a sociable cuisine and it’s something that you share” he said. “If you cross the threshold of the home of an Asian family you cannot leave without being fed. I’d pop over to see my mum for a quick cup of tea and leave with a huge box of Carte D’or Curry. Not even tupperware, just ice-cream boxes full of food. I wanted to share this heritage and take some of the mystique out of Indian food by equipping people with a bit of confidence and making recipes accessible.”

Ivor’s book, The Urban Rajah’s Curry Memoirs, is out now. You can book your Indian Street Food Workshop at www.hobbshousebakery.co.uk . And if you can’t wait that long, Ivor has some tasty recipes on his website www.urbanrajah.com.

Full interview in Chaat! issue 13