K. T. Achaya (6 October 1923 – 5 September 2002) was an oil chemist, food scientist, nutritionist and food historian. He is the author of ''Indian Food: A Historical Companion'', ''The Food Industries of British India'', and ''A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food''.Life’s history ends for a food scientist-historian-An obituary of K. T. Achaya
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Early life and education

K. T. Achaya was born in on 6 October 1923 in

Kollegal Kollegal is one of the major taluks in the Chamarajanagara District of Karnataka State in the south of India. It is also the largest taluk in Karnataka, Kollegal is well known for its silk industry which attracts traders from all over the s ...

, in the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

, (now part of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

). After graduating from

University of Madras The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

in 1943, he worked in the

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute was ...

for the next three years. He did his PhD work in T. P. Hilditch's lab at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Career

He researched on cottonseed processing and

castor oil Castor oil is a vegetable oil pressed from castor beans. It is a colourless or pale yellow liquid with a distinct taste and odor. Its boiling point is and its density is 0.961 g/cm3. It includes a mixture of triglycerides in which about ...

derivatives in Regional Research Laboratory in Hyderabad for 22 years starting from 1950. During this time, he published 150 publications and acquired 11 patents. In 1971, he became the Executive Director of Protein Foods and Nutrition Development Association of India in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

. In 1977, Achaya moved to the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI),

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude o ...

as Consultant to the United Nations University (UNU) Programme for advanced training in Food Science and Technology for fellows from developing countries. He retired from CFTRI in 1983 and wrote several books after his retirement.

Books

K. T. Achaya published several books on oil milling and food history of India. *Oilseeds and Oil Milling in India: A Cultural and Historical Survey (1990), *GHANI: The Traditional Oil Mill of India (1993) *The Food Industries of British India (1994) *The Story of our Food (2000) *The Food Industries of British India (Oxford University Press, 1994) * Indian Food: A Historical Companion (Oxford University Press, 1994) *A Historical Dictionary of Indian food (Oxford University Press, 1998) *The Illustrated Foods of India, A-Z (Oxford University Press, 2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Achaya, K. T. 1923 births 2002 deaths Indian food writers Indian food scientists Food historians People from Chamarajanagar district Writers from Karnataka Scientists from Karnataka 20th-century Indian chemists