This month’s issue of Saveur features an article on tamarind by the grand dame of Indian cookery, Madhur Jaffrey. Like anything in the glossy, it’s a combination of hard research (tamarind has more sugar and acid than any other fruit), folklore (sleeping under tamarind trees causes fever), food porn (she sticks her hands in a bowl of gooey pulp), and whimsy (she waxes nostalgic about whacking seed pods off the giant tree in her family’s Delhi compound). As coincidental as media blitzes are, Jaffrey recently published a food memoir, Climbing the Mango Trees about growing up in that very compound. A belated Chicago book launch will be held Wednesday, December 13, at Vermilion. The program includes a three-course lunch and a panel discussion with the guest of honor and Vermilion owner Rohini Dey on “Bringing Indian Cuisine to the U.S.: Two Perspectives.” Then Jaffrey will read from the book and guests will get an hour to schmooze with the author and actress. It starts at noon at 10 W. Hubbard. Tickets are $35; call 312-527-4060.
Madhur Jaffrey at Vermilion
