A Friend in Need: English-Tamil Cookery Book

The exterior of A Friend in Need: English-Tamil Cookery Book at the Kislak Center for Special Collections at the University of Pennsylvania

A Friend in Need: English-Tamil Cookery Book is a fundraising community cookbook created by the Women’s Workshop of the Friend In Need Society (F.I.N.S.). The book was created and printed in Madras, India, which is currently known as Chennai, India. This copy is currently held at the Kislak Center for Special Collections at the University of Pennsylvania. Printed in 1937 by the Diocesan Press in Vepery, the book contains recipes written in English and Tamil side-by-side, serving as a reference for Tamil-speaking cooks to prepare Western dishes for their British employers. To the contemporary reader, beyond providing recipes, A Friend in Need: English-Tamil Cookery Book presents a view into domestic life in India during British rule and the relationship between the British and natives.

Background

Madras, India

Until 1600, Madras was named Madraspatnam and was a small rural village on the Coromandel Coast. From the early 1600s, England started to venture into India for spice trade and eventually exerted government control until 1947 when India won independence. Madras was first overtaken by British control in 1636 and it became the location of Britain’s first fortification in India (Fort St. George in 1644, built by the East India Company). Madras became the administrative and military hub of the British East India Company in south India, developing an extensive railway network to promote British-controlled trade. Madras was renamed Chennai in 1996.

A Friend in Need: English-Tamil Cookery Book was published in 1937, during which India was under the control of the British Raj. During this period of direct rule, control of the Indian government was through British viceroys, and British people were in India as part of the military and government. As a result, an increased number of British people moved to India, often with families. They established communities such as the Friends In Need Society (F.I.N.S.) to provide social and philanthropic networks.