Simon Majumdar (born April 7, 1964) is a British-born food and travel author, and food television personality. He has appeared on many

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

shows and is based in Los Angeles and London. He also judges on shows such as ''

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, is a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle buil ...

''.

Early and personal life

Majumdar was brought up in

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

by his Welsh mother and Indian father, a middle child out of four children. His father Pratip "Pat" Majumdar was born in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

and was an Orthopedic consultant for

Rotherham United F.C. Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

His mother, Gwen John, was from

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

and worked as a nurse; his parents met while working at the

Royal Gwent Hospital The Royal Gwent Hospital () is a local general hospital in the city of Newport. It is managed by the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. Since 2020, the hospital no longer has a full Emergency Department, and redirects those with a serious il ...

in the 1950s. Majumdar previously worked as a book publisher and started working with food after the age of 40. After his mother fell ill and eventually died, he was depressed and not enjoying his prior career in publishing so he decided in 2007 to "go everywhere, eat everything" which changed his life path. He met his wife Sybil Villanueva while traveling in Brazil in 2010; Sybil is a

Filipino American Filipino Americans () are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos in North America were first documented in the 16th century and other small settlements beginning in the 18th century. Mass migration did not begin until after the end of the Sp ...

. He became a citizen of the United States on September 17, 2014.

Writing

He co-authored with his older brother Robin, a UK food blog "Dos Hermanos" from 2006 until 2012, which had thousands of readers a day. Majumdar is an author and contributor to; ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', '' AskMen.com'', ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'', and more. He has written books titled ''Fed, White, and Blue''; ''Eat My Globe''; and ''Eating For Britain''.

Television

He has appeared as a judge on the

shows ''

Cutthroat Kitchen ''Cutthroat Kitchen'' is an American cooking show hosted by Alton Brown that aired on the Food Network from August 11, 2013 to July 19, 2017. It features four chefs competing in a three-round elimination cooking competition. The contestants fac ...

'' (2013–2016), ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, wh ...

'' (2010–2012), '' All Star Academy'' (2015), ''

Beat Bobby Flay ''Beat Bobby Flay'' is an American cooking competition show on the Food Network. It features various chefs competing against Bobby Flay. The show is taped in front of a live audience. Format In the first round, two guests, often a celebrity ...

'' (2014–2017) and '' The Next Iron Chef'' (2010–2012). Majumdar is severely allergic to coffee and oysters, and will not taste any dish prepared by a competitor that includes either of these ingredients. He is known for a love of Indian cuisine. He was a guest on the show ''The'' ''Best Thing I Ever Ate'' (2010–2011) with foods found in California, Louisiana and Kansas. Majumdar was a guest critic on the UK show '' Market Kitchen''. Majumdar is occasionally a judge on ''

Guy's Grocery Games '' Guy's Grocery Games'' (often nicknamed ''Triple G'') is an American reality competition television series hosted by Guy Fieri and his son Hunter on Food Network. Each episode features four chefs competing in a three-round elimination contest ...

''. He has also worked with

Guy Fieri Guy Ramsay Fieri (, ; Ferry; born January 22, 1968) is an American restaurateur, author, and an Emmy Award winning television presenter. He co-owned three now-defunct restaurants in California. He licenses his name to restaurants in cities a ...

’s '' Tournament of Champions'' as a floor reporter for the blind taste test.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Majumdar, Simon Living people British writers of Indian descent English people of Indian descent English people of Welsh descent British television chefs Food Network chefs Naturalized citizens of the United States Writers from South Yorkshire People from Rotherham 1964 births