Food enthusiasts and others are only now learning about Ranji Smile, one of the first celebrity chefs in the U.S. who gave a taste of authentic Indian food to Americans for the first time when he arrived here from India via London in 1899.
Dubbed by several American publications at the time as âThe King of Curry,â the young Muslim chef from Karachi (then in India) captivated Americans when he began cooking Indian dishes at Sherryâs restaurant in New York. According to various accounts, before arriving here, he worked at Cecil Hotel in London where he impressed the owner of Sherryâs, Louis Sherry, with his culinary skills, following which he brought Smile, and his young English wife, to New York in 1899.
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America s First Celebrity Chef Was an Indian Immigrant in the 1880s
A dinner at Sherry s, New York City, taken Nov. 30, 08. (Image credits: Wikimedia Commons.)
A 2016 book by historian Sarah Lohman named Eight Flavors talks about how Smile went on to create a name for himself in the American society who were oblivious to the complex curries of Indian subcontinent.
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The Indian diaspora around the world has registered a number of feats on their name but did you know that the status of a celebrity chef was also first achieved by an Indian chef?
Before the world had Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsay, or Nigella Lawson, there was a man named Prince Ranji Smile who had emigrated from Karachi to London in the 1800s. After working in England’s Cecil hotels, he impressed Louis Sherry, a prominent restaurant owner with his curry recipe. Smile then sailed across the Atlantic ocean with his English wife to introduce the Americans with his delectable Indian cuisi