MANSFIELD, Ohio – “Every town I go to I have these ‘who knew’ moments: Like who knew I would be serving chicken tikka masala in Mansfield, Ohio to a hundred people?” Simon Majumdar said.
Majumdar, a food critic, journalist, and Food Network personality, served the dish Monday evening at Ed Pickens’ Café on Main.
Majumdar is on a book tour for his most recent book release, “Fed, White, and Blue.” The book recounts the quest the former Great Britain native embarked on before he obtained his American citizenship. He said he decided that it was necessary to discover more about America and the culinary culture in America, particularly small town America.
The tour is a continuation of that quest as well as a fulfillment of his personal motto, “eat everything, everywhere.”
So how did he end up in Mansfield, Ohio?
Local resident Kelly Blankenship responded to a social media post: “I’ve always followed Simon [Majumdar] on Twitter and Facebook… he had been talking about his book tour coming up and wanting to see more small town America, and he wanted to meet more people who lived in small town America, and I thought, ‘What’s more small town America than Mansfield, Ohio?’… so I typed up and sent this whole long email and included links to all of the wonderful things that we have that make Mansfield such a great place to be, and live, and work, and spend time as a family. All of the things that are just quaint that big cities don’t have,” said Blankenship.
Shortly after, Blankenship received a reply with an agreement from Majumda to add Mansfield to his list of book tour stops. Blankenship also connected Majumdar with Pioneer Career and Technology Center to speak to the culinary students there, and with local businesses such as Ed Pickens’ Café on Main, Phoenix Brewing Co., and Altered Eats.
Approximately 100 guests bought tickets for the food demonstration.
When asked why she attended the cooking demonstration, local fan Angie Kern said, “I’m excited to be here. I watch his [Majumdar’s] Food Network shows, ‘Beat Bobby Flay’ and ‘Iron Chef,’ all of the time. I think it’s great for Café on Main and Ed Pickens. Hopefully more Food Network stars will come!”
Majumdar, who is of Indian decent, said he wanted to share recipes from his background and serve dishes that reminded him of his childhood. He demonstrated and served three Indian dishes: onion bahji (a kind of onion fritter), paired with a “family” cilantro mint chutney, and chicken tikka masala (the national dish of Great Britain).
He also shared many stories from his past, his career, and other stops on his tour, along with plenty of humor. At the close, Majumdar imparted some obervations after his travels through America.
“We can be very different in this country… but once you share great food, it doesn’t matter… It’s very hard to have an argument with someone when they have a mouthful of ribs,” he said.
The cooking demonstration was followed by a book signing and passage reading, which was open to the public. The books were made available by Main Street Books. The complete recipes for these dishes, along with some of his other dishes, can be found on his website.
