Mallika Badrinath is an Indian

food writer Food writing is a literary genre that focuses on the cultural and historical significance of food. It encompasses various forms, including recipes, journalism, memoirs, and travelogues, and can be found in both fiction and non-fiction works. Food ...

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...

author and host of

cooking show A cooking show, cookery show, or cooking program (also spelled cooking programme in British English) is a television genre that presents food preparation, often in a restaurant kitchen or on a Television studio, studio set, or at the host's p ...

s. She is the author of 29 cookery books in English and 30 books in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, together containing more than 4,000 recipes. Some of her books have been translated into

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

. Her books include the Tamil “Siru Dhaniya Samayal” series, containing recipes using traditional nutritious ingredients and

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

s such as Sirudhaniyangal Ragi, kambu, Saamai, thinai, varagu, cholam and kudhiraivali.

Early life

Born and brought up in Salem, a town in

Tamilnadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, Mallika completed her Bachelors in Home Science from Salem. In the late 1980s, at the age of 21, she married Badrinath, a chartered accountant from

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. In an interview with

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

, she admitted to have rarely cooked before marriage as they lived in a large joint family of 25, and had a cook and an assistant cook to do the cooking. However, she was interested in recipes and collected them in a scrap book, writing all of them.

Literary career

In Chennai, Mallika continued to cook and collect

recipes A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. Recip ...

. These included recipes that she had received from her mother and aunt, which she would rewrite into notebooks, with variations based on her experience. Soon, she had 10 such handwritten books, including 80 recipes for side dishes. Her husband encouraged her to publish these recipes, resulting in her first book "100 Vegetarian Recipes" published in 1988. As her books became popular she took up writing full-time, publishing later books through her own publishing house "Pradeep enterprises". Her husband, Badrinath, too reduced his work to help her market her books. The 1990s saw an increase in access to cable television in India, however there were few cookery programs in regional language such asTamil. As a result, Mallika began to get offers for television shows on cookery, initially with

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

and then with Sun TV. Mallika says she tries to write one book per year.

Other ventures

In 1999, Mallika started to market '' masalas'' (Indian cooking powders) under the company "Mallika Home Products", often known as MHP. She continues to write articles related to cooking in magazines including

Kungumam Kumkuma is a powder used for social and religious markings in India. It is made from turmeric or any other local materials. The turmeric is dried and powdered with a bit of slaked lime, which turns the rich yellow powder into a red color. In ...

Kumudam ''Kumudam'' is a Tamil weekly magazine published in Chennai, India. It was founded in 1948 by S.A.P. Annamalai, and his close friend and confidant P.V. Parthasarathy. Now the magazine is published under the Kumudam Group, which also publishes o ...

, Mangaiyar Malar, Snegithi, Porpadham and Gokulam kadir. She has hosted cookery shows on Sun TV (Ungal Manasukku Pidichadhu Mattum),

Jaya TV Jaya TV HD is a Tamil language satellite television channel based in Chennai, India. Jaya TV HD is also broadcast to the expatriate Tamil community via various media partnerships. Hemant Sahai of HSA had Jaya TV HD as his first client. Jaya TV ...

(“Arusuvai Neram”) where her shows have run for more than 15 years. She has also featured in cookery shows in

Polimer TV Polimer TV (; also known as Polimer) is an Indian Tamil language entertainment channel that was owned by Polimer TV Network. The channel shows dubbed series from other television channels and produced some original programming. It was initia ...

and Sakthi TV-Sri Lanka. She hosts her own

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel called "Mallika's cookery".

Personal life

Mallika is married and lives in Chennai with her husband. They have two children, from whom they have three grandchildren.

Awards

Mallika has received a number of awards including the “Priyadarshini Award” in 1998, which is given to women entrepreneurs in India. Her other awards include: *“Mahila Ratna” Award - presented by the Tamil Nadu Arya Vysya Mahila Sabha in 1998 *“Arusuvai Gnaana Kalamani” Award presented by the Thenn Indhiya Samayal Kalaignargal Sangam *“Acharya Award” in the field of cooking presented by Call Chennai in 2006 *“Best Cookery Show Host” Award presented by the Mylapore Academy in 2006 *“Arusuvai Arasi” Award presented by International Lions Clubs in 2008 *“Nala Maharani” conferred by Kungumam – Tamil magazine *“Professional Excellence Award” by Rotary Club – Tirunagar & My Madurai *“Sigaram Thotta Penmani” Award by

Vijay TV Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. The channel telecasts programmes such as serials, reality shows & Tamil films. History T ...

on Women`s Day 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Badrinath, Mallika Living people Indian cookbook writers Women food writers Indian television chefs Indian Tamil people Chefs of Indian cuisine Writers from Chennai Indian women chefs 20th-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers 21st-century Indian non-fiction writers Women writers from Tamil Nadu Year of birth missing (living people)