Author Raj Tawney won a Living Now Book Award for “Colorful Palate,” an autobiography featuring recipes from his multicultural family, which includes his Indian father and his mother and grandmother from the Bronx, Puerto Rica.
Photo courtesy of Raj Tawney
writer Raj Tawney37, won a Bronze medal at the Living Now Book Awards 2024 for his Book ““Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Blended American Experience,” in which he describes his multicultural Bronx family roots through recipes, stories and photos.
The Living Now Awards were launched in 2008 to recognise creativity and innovation among recently published lifestyle books, according to the awards ceremony. websiteTawney’s win in the Inspirational Memoir category was “the icing on a complete sundae,” he told the Bronx Times.
Tawney grew up primarily on Long Island. His father is from Mumbai, India, and his mother is from the Bronx and is Puerto Rican. His grandmother lived in the Bronx, and Tawney has fond memories of visiting her to cook and eat together and learn about family history.
Food was a big deal in his blended family, which crossed cultural boundaries in every way. Tawney’s grandmother, a Puerto Rican Bronx resident, was known for cooking the best Italian meatballs. His mother and grandmother mastered the North Indian chickpea curry dish chana masala – and his wife has learned their techniques. “It’s like a family heirloom now.”
Tawney, who grew up on Long Island, said many of his peers were “afraid” of “ethnic food” and he often felt out of place, moving between different cultures without having a strong sense of belonging to any one. But later in life he accepted his mixed heritage and wrote some of his family’s favorite recipes in the book, without exact quantities and with plenty of personal touches.
The recipes “read like poems in some ways,” Tawney said. “I found it really cathartic to write about all these personal stories from my life.”
Tawney had previously published essays for The New York Times, USA Today, The Guardian and other news publications. But when it came to publishing Colorful Palate, he had trouble finding a publisher for it while staying true to his vision.
He eventually tried to sell the book without the help of a literary agent and was delighted when Fordham University Press picked it up. He said it was a “full-circle moment” since his mother and grandmother had lived on the same street as the campus.
Today, Tawney lives in Florida but visits New York often and still draws inspiration from his family. His beloved grandmother died in 2018. “She loved the Bronx. She loved her home,” he said. Tawney’s mother traveled to 30 countries before she married and later went to college to pay for nursing school.
“(My parents are) proud of their heritage, but they also wanted to be part of the world,” he said. He wrote the memoir “not only to understand myself, but also to honor these people. I love how brave my family was.”
As if the Living Now Award wasn’t enough, Queensborough Community College is incorporating “Colorful Palate” into its English department’s curriculum this year. Tawney will give a lecture on campus in November. “This is the greatest honor,” he said.
Also coming out in October is Tawney’s middle school book, All Mixed Up, a novel set in New York City in 2002 and about a young immigrant named Kamal (Tawney’s middle name).
“Children’s book publishers urgently need stories about childhood friendships,” he said.
Tawney will give an author’s lecture at the New York Public Library (branch TBD) on Nov. 12. As a child, the library was “the Mecca of our lives,” and to have one of his own works presented there feels like a dream, he says.
Tawney, who did not begin writing publicly until he was 30, said he can’t believe his book has already won awards, receiving praise from actor John Leguizamo, chef Lidia Bastianich, author Junot Diaz and others. He also has a second book in the works that is already attracting attention from major institutions.
“This is crazy,” Tawney said. “I’m so excited to keep writing.”
This article was updated at 1 p.m. to reflect that Tawney lives in Florida, not New Jersey.
Reach Emily Swanson at [email protected] or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
