Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India

Madhur Jaffrey is one of the foremost authors of indian cookbooks. This book is a memoir of her childhood in northern India during the 40s and 50s. It is packed with all the joys and flavors of an extended family with liberal food descriptions and delightful flavors of multi ethnic indian cuisine. She obviously had a very rich, privileged up bringing which is perhaps not what every indian born child is privy to, but her writing is compassionate, mindful of the privileges she had in comparison to the rest of the country - and allows the reader to really travel visually and enjoy a taste of the same. One cannot help wishing though that she had dealt with, at some length, on some real struggles with a dysfunctional uncle (Shibbu dada), the changes in the family during the post independance era (all families went through a lot of struggle then, particularly privileged ones) or for that matter anything that lets the reader know that the journey was not always a happy or easy one. Read it anyway, and particulary if you are from India, it is truly a delightful nostalgic journey into the joys and flavors and family love that is so typical of extended family life in our homeland and sadly getting to be a rarity for even those who live there.

Any fan of Indian cooking well knows the name of Madhur Jaffrey: in addition to hosting a TV show she's also published numerous cookbooks - and acted in many major motion pictures. Here's something different for the Jaffrey fan: a memoir of how she came to be equated with Indian cuisine in "Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India". Her memoir blends food memories with overall impressions of India's social and political changes, making for a wide-ranging coverage recommended as a pick not just for cooks, but for anyone with an interest in India's complex history, culture, and cuisine. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

I have always loved Madhur Jaffrey's recipes and acting. This memoir, even for those who don't know her, is marvelous. She provides a beautifully-written glimpse of growing up in a large and well-to-do Indian family that mixed Muslim and Hindu traditions in an era that is now past. The description of family foods (and the recipes -- YUM)and the traditions of her family are wonderful. I was terribly sorry when I came to the end of the book, though I was thrilled to find recipes in the back. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in Indian food, Indian culture, or history -- and to anyone who just plain enjoys memoirs.

My son bought me this lovely book for my birthday, and as always, the writing is seductive, and draws one in immediately. Jaffrey has a delightfully chatty and confidential tone when talking about family and friends, and it makes you feel you know them well. This is a fascinating book - well written, and one that lingers in the memory like a fragment of a dream: familiar, elusive, and haunting. My only complaint is that it wasn't longer, and didn't go much past early adulthood. I want to know more, and hopefully this talented actress, author, and raconteur will do just that. This is my 6th book by Madhur Jaffrey, and I am fond of them all. I recommend any and all to people willing to try something new. A personal favorite is Flavors Of India. Lots of great recipes and anecdotal information on the people and regions of India. If you are new to Indian cooking, you are in for a rare treat with her many cookery books. They do take some time and preparation, but if you can read, and are moderately adventurous, all will be well. Let me also recommend Indian CDs and Bollywood for the full experience. Bon voyage.

This is, as she says, a memoir of a childhood in India. On the one hand it was a childhood spent climbing the mango trees, entertaining a large extended family and generally living a life of ease. At the same time there was a background of big events changing their world. India was being split between Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. This resulted in another one of the bouts of 'ethnic cleansing' where the Muslims were freely killing the Hindu in Pakistan and the reverse was happening in India. This is a story of life in India as seen by one girl who left there for a life on stage, in the movies, and strangely enough as an author of cookbooks on Indian food. This has an amusing side effect as she didn't cook in India, and only became interested while she was in graduate school in London. Her mother sent her a new recipe each week by air mail, alone with lessons on how to cook. After the story of her childhood is finished, she concludes the book with a series of recipies. Her recipies are heavy users of spices, perhaps falling back to the childhood filled with the fragrance of spice.