Publishing January 2023
In a delectable new book, Shobhaa Dé takes us through a year of her encounters with food, people and places with her inimitable chutzpah!
About the Book
‘I promise not to be three things – profound, pedantic and pretentious,’ says Shobhaa Dé as she begins her heart-warming book.
It’s a promise India’s most beloved writer holds to as she marks her seventy-fifth birthday with a bubbly memoir about food, friends and family.
In Insatiable: My Hunger for Life, Shobhaa takes us through a year of her encounters with food, people and places, reminding us at every turn how food connects people in the most unexpected places and in delightful ways.
The most delicious lassi in Jaipur. Obsessions with kasundi. Conversations with a foodie Nobel Laureate. Juicy secrets of Mumbai’s venerated Willingdon Club. M.F. Husain’s last food khwaish as he lay on his deathbed. The right way to eat tadgolas. The many ways one can ruin a Bengali fish curry. These stories and more take us to festivals around the country and exotic locales, into the dining rooms of politicians, artists and celebrities, to parties and social events, and, more privately, into her home, where food is always the prime subject of conversation.
Shobhaa Dé says, ‘Insatiable has been an extraordinary writing experience for me. Everything about the book reflects an unexpected “newness”. I wrote it spontaneously in a playful, irreverent mood to chronicle and mark a significant birthday. It’s an authentic, honest and intimate representation of my far-from-conventional life, my deeply invested relationship with food, crazy, emotional family celebrations involving khaana-peena, besides the affectionate recollections of the tumultuous friendships that have enriched and challenged every moment over 75 years! Don’t stop me now!’
Poulomi Chatterjee, Publisher at HarperCollins India, says, ‘It’s an absolute joy for us at HarperCollins India to bring to readers Shobhaa Dé’s latest work. Shobhaa’s passion for good food, good company and narrating spicy stories is legendary. In Insatiable she weaves a narrative around these themes in a style that is quintessentially hers – zesty, no-holds-barred, and sparkling with sharp wit and keen observation. Readers will enjoy this fun, entertaining and heartwarming read all the way through!’
Trisha Bora, Senior Commissioning Editor at HarperCollins India, says, ‘I’m thrilled to be publishing one of India’s most beloved writers – someone whom I have admired through the years. Insatiable is different – it is as light as a well-made soufflé, bubbling like a glass of champagne and profound like the days before the monsoon. Shobhaa takes us into her home, to the chatter around her dining table and kitchen, her travels and her engagements with her friends and family. You won’t be able to stop reading this incredible book!’
About the Author
Shobhaa Dé, voted by Reader’s Digest as one of ‘India’s Most Trusted People’ and by Daily News and Analysis as one of the ’50 Most Powerful Women in India’, is a bestselling author and a popular social commentator. Her works, both fiction and non-fiction, have been featured in comparative literature courses at universities in India and abroad. Her writing has been translated into French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish, among other languages. Shobhaa lives in Mumbai with her husband and six children.
For further information please write to sagiri.dixit@harpercollins.co.in
Rs 699 | Non-fiction
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Waiting to grab the copy and pretty much excited to read the book.
I had the opportunity to meet Shobha de during the launch of her book superstar India during her 60th birthday. Now a book on her 75th birthday.