Anjum Anand

Anjum Anand's light, quick and easy adaptations of her mother's traditional recipes have made her a culinary star. She is a British Indian food writer and TV chef of Indian cuisine who grew up in London but has also lived and studied in Geneva, Paris, and Madrid. Her perspective on adapting healthy meals from a traditionally rich Indian diet came from personal experience of weight problems while growing up. Her diet consists of varied traditional dishes, recreated with wholesome ingredients and limited oil. At age 25 her first book Indian Every Day: Light Healthy Indian Food was published. Anjum Anand has worked in the kitchens of hotel restaurants including at Café Spice in New York, as a waitress in Park Royal Hotel in New Delhi, and for Tommy Tang at Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles. Anand became a regular guest on UKTV Food's Great Food Live from 2004 to 2007, and featured in the BBC Two series Indian Food Made Easy broadcast in 2007. Owing to her accent and flirtatious manner she has been dubbed "the Nigella Lawson of Indian cuisine in Britain". She has been a regular contributor to The Times Online food pages since 2007 and has acted as consultant chef to Birds Eye brand to develop a range of healthy Indian ready meals. In September 2008 Anand published her third recipe book Anjum's New Indian, followed by a new BBC television series in November. In mid 2011, she launched the brand The Spice Tailor having seven authentic Indian sauces, specially developed to deliver restaurant quality dishes that enable consumers to fill a gap in the market for those who enjoy fine Indian food. Anjum follows Hinduism and speaks French and Spanish fluently. She holds a degree in European business administration from the European Business School London, and for a period ran a business importing flat-pack furniture from eastern Europe.