Monisha Patil is a renowned Indian chef and author living in the UK. She is the daughter of renowned Indian journalist Vimla Patil and the first wife of Indian television actor Nitish Bharadwaj.
Wiki/Biography
Monisha Patil was born in Mumbai. She attended the Bombay International School and St. Columba’s School, Mumbai. She then attended the Institute of Business and Human Resources, Mumbai. She holds a diploma in journalism from the London School of Journalism. She graduated in Indian history and attended the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai from 1982 to 1985.
appearance
Height (approximate): 5′ 7″
Eye color: Black
Hair color: Black
Family and caste
She was born into a Hindu family.
Parents and siblings
Monisha is the daughter of famous Indian journalist Vimla Patil. Monisha has an older brother.
Monisha Patil and her mother
Relationships, husbands and children
On December 27, 1991, she married Nitish Bharadwaj, a famous Indian actor. They have two children, a daughter and a son. Their daughter is named India Bharadwaj and their son is named Arrush Bharadwaj. In 2005, Nitish and Monisha divorced, and after the divorce, Monisha moved to London with her two children.
Monisha Patil and her husband
Monisha Patil and her children
Monisha Patil and India Bharadwaj
Profession
In 2013, she was a visiting lecturer at SOAS University of London for four months. In 2012, she began her career as a chef and joined the Bristol School of Food and Wine as a chef tutor. She has worked as a chef tutor in several cooking schools, including Ashburton Cookery School, Seasoned Cookery School and The Bertinet Kitchen. In 2004, she founded her own cooking school “Cooking With Monisha” in West London.
She has been writing since the age of 15 and has written on teenage issues. She has co-authored two books with her mother, The Prestige Festival Cookbook and The Exotic Curries of the Orient. Some of her works as an author include Inside India, Indian Beauty Secrets, Great Diamonds of India, The Indian Pantry (shortlisted for the British Guild of Food Writers Award and renamed The Indian Kitchen in its second edition) and The Indian Luck Book.
Books by Monisha Patil
Facts/Trivia
- Her full name is Monisha Patil Bharadwaj.
- Speaking about her interest in writing in an interview, she said,
My mother was the editor of Woman (India’s leading women’s magazine) for 30 years. I grew up in her office, smelling the printing ink. I started writing at a very young age. At 15, I wrote a column on teenage interests and issues for the Evening News and continued to freelance. I also co-authored two books with my mother, Fame Festival Recipes and Exotic Curries of the East. For a while, I did other things. In the past six years, I have focused on writing. ”
- In an interview, when she was asked if she felt pressure to pursue a career as a writer since her mother Vimla Patil is a well-known journalist, she replied,
Not at all. We both acknowledge that our writing styles are very different. Not better or worse, just different. There is also the question of time. I started writing 30 years after my mother started. Being a daughter of Patil was a huge advantage. I got the best exposure. I met amazing people. My mother would interview famous people and I would be there. I remember my mother interviewed Pandit Ravi Shankar (a sitar legend). After the interview, he asked me where I was going. I said I was going to college. So he took a cab to take me to college!”
- In 2003, she was named “Culinary Writer of the Year” by the Society of Food Writers.
- She has been invited to judge the Good Food Institute’s “Delicious Awards” several times over the past few years, and she has also served as a judge on various cooking shows.
- In 2019, she also worked with Kew Gardens to explore the benefits of Indian ingredients. She also had the opportunity to work with the British Council on “How the British fell in love with curry: A historical perspective from 1200 to 2017”.
- She was invited to speak at the Welcome Collection event in London in 2018 and at the Culinary Legends Tour of the British Isles in 2019.
- She follows a non-vegetarian diet.
Monisha Patil’s Instagram post
- She has been learning Bharatanatyam since she was four years old and has been studying Indian classical dance for over three decades, performing at various events around the world including the Nehru Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and even in front of Her Majesty the Queen.
Indian classical dance performance by Monisha Patil
- She loves animals very much and has a pet dog named Archie.
Monisha Patil and her dog
- She enjoys a beer at parties and holidays.
- Before her divorce, she worked as a producer for a television series in India.
- Sharing her favorite recipe in an interview, she said,
That’s a hard question because there are so many! I love butter chicken for entertaining, lentil tarka for comfort food, and green lentil halwa for a special treat. ”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education