this Cook Book life

Jennifer Brennan, renowned cookbook author/illustrator, died this morning in a house fire, in the Normal Heights neighborhood of San Diego, Calif. She was 76.

In 1935, Brennan was born into a family of the British Raj in India. Her mother and her maternal grandmother were born in Calcutta. Her father was posted on the Northwest frontier at the time of  her birth.  She was raised in the Punjab and Mysore.

As an adult, Brennan lived all over the world.

Creative in earning a living, she played “host to the Beatles during their trip to Hong Kong.”

She also taught Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine at her Los Angeles cooking school, The Asian Experience. Her weekly column on Asian food and cooking appeared in Los Angeles Herald Examiner for about five years. She also contributed to various food magazines and  co-owned Curries and Bugles, a British Raj restaurant, in San Diego.

Her cookbooks:

• The Original Thai Cookbook. 1981.
• The Cuisines of Asia. 1984.
• One-Dish Meals of Asia. 1985.
• Curries and Bugles: A Memoir & Cookbook of the British Raj. 1990.
• Tradewinds And Coconuts: A Reminiscence And Recipes From The Pacific Islands. 2000.

The IACP chose Brennan’s extraordinary cookbook-memoir, Curries and Bugles, as ‘Best Book in Literary Food Writing’ for 1990.’ In the book, Brennan superimposed her Indian childhood against the historical backdrop of the British Raj with photographs, drawings, recipes and memories of hers own; interjecting quotes from the literary British Raj, and excerpts/recipes from culinary texts of the time.

Antiquarian cookbook seller Marian Gore passed on October 11. Read the Los Angeles Times article.

I’m relieved to see Kim Severson’s article, And Then There Was the Food, addressing Newman’s Own’s contributions to the food world in The New York Times food section today. The Los Angeles Times food section disappointed as far as Paul Newman or Newman’s Own. At least Newman made their Daily Dish blog.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Robert Steinberg, physician, who later co-founded Scharffen Berger Chocolate, died September 17 at UCSF Medical Center, near his San Francisco home. He was 61. Dr. Steinberg had lymphatic cancer.
Steinberg and co-founder John Scharffenberger, and their company, played a key role in fostering a new chocolate sensibility in the U.S.; where the idea that chocolate is “a complex and interesting food” replaced the idea that it is merely a “sweet candy.” [Alice Medrich].
Steinberg and Scharffenberger co-wrote a cookbook/memoir, The Essence Of Chocolate. The book, published in 2006, contains 100+ recipes by the two and by noteworthy pastry chefs like Flo Braker, Jim Dodge, Thomas Keller, . . . And, Steinberg and Scharffenberg trace growth of their careers and their passion for chocolate as well.

Hollywood veteran leading man, auto racing enthusiast, food conglomerate philanthropist Paul Newman died yesterday at his Westport, Ct. home. He had returned home from the hospital following chemotherapy in August. He was 83.

Newman and writer, A.E. Hotchner, founded Newman’s Own in 1982. Their first product was all-natural Newman’s Own Salad Dressing. Other all-natural products like spaghetti sauce, popcorn, lemonade, salsa, steak sauce followed.

Early on, the boys established the Newman’s Own policy that all proceeds from the sale of Newman’s Own products, after taxes, be donated to charity. The Hole In The Wall Gang summer camps for for seriously ill children are the among the most well-known recipients.

Newman and Hotchner authored several recipe books:

• Newman’s Own Cookbook (1985) [Newman's Own's first cookbook by this name]
• Hole In The Wall Gang Cookbook: Kid-friendly Recipes For Families To Make Together (1998)
• Newman’s Own Cookbook (1998) [published under the same title as the 1985 cookbook, but with different text and recipes]
• Shameless Exploitation In Pursuit Of The Common Good (2003) [A business biography/memoir than contains Newman's Own's Good Housekeeping Magazine Winning Recipes, company chronology, etc.]