"India was not my
natural place. I am not a backpacker.
I never entertained
fantasies of traveling in the East.
I did not practice
yoga. I was not looking for a guru.
I simply wished to
spend some time with myself, and
India seemed right. I
set out for one month, but India,
as India is wont, had
a different plan. I arrived in the
small city of
Tiruvanamalai which sits at the foot of
a holy mountain, and
there I met a very, very English
man who dreamed of
opening a restaurant. I fell in love
with this man and
with his dream, with the place and
with its people, and
I began to cook.
My kitchen migrates
between the Middle East and India,
particularly Tamil
Nadu, where I have lived since 2000.
For me food is, first
and foremost a connection - something
we share, we speak
of, we tell stories about. Cooking is an
adventure, a journey
in new areas of taste, and a longing
for something that we
cannot always explain.
Sometimes food allows
us to express on a plate what
we cannot put into
words."
Efrat lives in
Auroville, Tamil Nadu and is the mother
of Leela, age 14. She
cooks, draws, writes, and gives
culinary consultants
for restaurants.
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