Raghavan Iyer was a chef who helped popularize cooking the cuisines of his native India in the U.S.
- Died: March 31, 2023 (Who else died on March 31?)
- Details of death: Died at a San Francisco hospital of pneumonia after fighting colorectal cancer at the age of 61.
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Raghavan Iyer’s legacy
After growing up in Mumbai, Iyer came to the U.S. as a young man to study hospitality. He hadn’t intended to become a chef, and in fact, didn’t cook at all. However, the lack of Indian food options in Minnesota, where he settled, led him to begin recreating his favorite dishes for himself. Iyer wrote his first cookbook after impressing a team at General Mills with a freshly-cooked Indian lunch, intending to convince them to let him write an Indian cookbook for Betty Crocker. “Is Betty ready for Indian?” he asked, and they answered yes: Iyer went on to write “Betty Crocker’s Indian Home Cooking,” published in 2001.
Iyer would follow his first success with several other cookbooks, including “The Turmeric Trail: Recipes and Memories from an Indian Childhood,” and “660 Curries: The Gateway to Indian Cooking.” He both inspired home cooks to explore the flavors of India and influenced professional chefs, opening doors for younger chefs who would riff on the cuisine in surprising new ways. Iyer’s final cookbook, “On the Curry Trail: Chasing the Flavor That Seduced the World,” was published just weeks before his death.
Notable quote
“[S]omething takes over your body when you are in the kitchen, and you’re just in your own world. You get into this rhythm where things make a lot of sense.” —from a 2023 interview for the New York Times
Tributes to Raghavan Iyer
Full obituary: Star Tribune
