Simon Majumdar is a British-born food and travel author, and food television personality. He has appeared on many Food Network shows and is based in Los Angeles and London. He also judges tables on shows such as Iron Chef.
Early and personal life
Majumdar was brought up in Rotherham near Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England by his Welsh mother and Indian father, a middle child out of four children. His father Pratip "Pat" Majumdar was born in Kolkata and was an Orthopedic consultant for Rotherham United F.C.. His mother, Gwen John, was from Southern Wales and worked as a nurse; his parents met while working at the Royal Gwent Hospital in the 1950s. Majumdar previously worked as a book publisher and started working with food after the age of 40. After his mother fell ill and eventually died, he was depressed and not enjoying his prior career in publishing so he decided in 2007 to "go everywhere, eat everything" which changed his life path. He met his wife Sybil Villanueva while traveling in Brazil in 2010; Sybil is a Filipino American. He became a citizen of the United States on September 17, 2014.
Writing
He co-authored with his older brother Robin, the highly rated and most read UK food blog "Dos Hermanos" from 2006 until 2012, they had thousands of readers a day. Majumdar is an author and contributor to; The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mail, AskMen.com, The Daily Beast, and more. He has written books titled Fed, White, and Blue; Eat My Globe; and Eating For Britain.
Television
He has appeared as a judge on the Food Network shows Cutthroat Kitchen, Iron Chef America, All Star Academy, Beat Bobby Flay and The Next Iron Chef. Majumdar is severely allergic to coffee and oysters; consequently, neither of these ingredients are used in any competition judged by him. He is known for a love of Indian cuisine. A guest on the showTheBest Thing I Ever Ate with foods found in California, Louisiana and Kansas. Majumdar was a guest critic on the UK show Market Kitchen.
