Chitrita Banerji was born and brought up in Calcutta and lived in Bangladesh for seven years before moving to the United States, where she now lives. Her other books about food include, The Hour of the Goddess: Memories of Women, Food and Ritual in Bengal and Eating India: Exploring a Nation’s Cuisine; a novel, Mirror City. She has contributed to Granta, Gourmet, Gastronomia and a variety of other publications.