Chef Raghavan Iyer, who made Indian cuisine popular in US, passes away at 61

By Daphne ClaranceIndian-American chef Raghavan Iyer died on Friday (March 31) in San Francisco, US. He was 61. Raghavan Iyer, who battled cancer for a long time, was a cookbook author and a culinary teacher.

The news was confirmed on his Instagram handle with a message by his partner Terry Erickson. “It is with a heavy and sad heart I must tell you of Raghavan’s passing this evening. He died peacefully at University of California San Francisco hospital,” the statement read.

The note further read, “A celebration of life will be planned for a later date. I will post the information on his Facebook page. Thank you all for your thoughts and well wishes. He never saw a difference between family and friends, so I am sorry for your loss as well. Thank you.”

According to a New York Times report, Raghavan Iyer taught Americans how to cook Indian food. He wrote seven cookbooks, which included some 660 iconic curries.

In his last book, On the Curry TrailChasing the Flavor That Seduced the World in 50 Recipes, he talked about curry powder, an ingredient that has introduced many non-Indians to the cuisine, but that’s debatable.

The cause of the late chef’s death was pneumonia complicated by colorectal cancer that had metastasized to his lungs and brain.

Born on April 21, 1961, in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, Raghavan Iyer left for the United States as a young man. In an earlier interview with NYT, he had said, “When I first got to this country, I was almost embarrassed about where I was from and the food we ate,” adding that later he realised that his culture was the “tool” he could use to overcome his feelings of inferiority.