Happiness Tastes Like Curry -                               My Indian Kitchen                  Efrat Devir

"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.