Madhur Jaffrey grew up in a fairly high caste
family in an India still controlled by the British. Independence (and partition) came when she
was in high school. Since this is a memoir of childhood, it ends with the end of Jaffrey's high school years. I was surprised to learn that, although her family was Hindu, they were influenced by Muslim customs. I was not surprised to learn that the women in her family
had much less education than the men, although this began to change with her generation. Jaffrey makes the conflicts within the family -- at least the ones that she was aware of as a child -- quite clear, especially the dysfunctional relationships of her uncle, both with his nuclear family and with
the members of his extended family. However, befitting Jaffrey's career as a writer of cookbooks,
most of the memories she recalls here are centered on experiences involving food: family dinners, family picnics, favorite street food, visits
to her mother's family and accompanying family dinners, and food shared with classmates of different faiths and different food traditions. The book ends with approximately 50 pages of recipes.
Jaffrey's childhood will seem exotic to most Americans so this memoir is suitable for any book club, but it is ideal for a club whose members love food as much as they love books. The seven club members who attended this meeting gave Climbing Mango Trees an average rating of 3.9.