The Modern Tiffin

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY NOV 15, 2021

Indian American chef Naik debuts with a charming if scattered collection of vegan recipes that aims to break the "Western-developed mold of a ‘balanced meal' of meat potatoes." She starts strong with a bubbly introduction about growing up Indian American on Staten Island, toting the school lunches her mother packed in a "segmented lunch box" similar to a tiffin, a steel lunch box that separates the components of a meal in stacked layers. Unfortunately, the tiffin concept falls apart in execution. The vegan dishes in a chapter do not always comprise a meal—an Italian-inspired grouping includes a carb-loaded offering of bruschetta with masala-spiced chickpeas, two pasta options, and risotto. Naik excels where her South Indian roots come into play, such as in a selection of Maharashtrian food—an Indian cuisine rarely found in restaurants—which includes shaboodani, usually made with tapioca and updated here with couscous. A seasoned traveler, she applies Indian methods and spices to the foods of other countries, resulting in creative dishes like baella ("paella meets biryani"). However, the origins of the mashups can be confounding, as when a Middle Eastern tiffin features Greek-inspired eggplant rolls with mint sauce. While the highs outnumber the lows, the wandering focus is a letdown.