Important people in Bali: Janet DeNeefe
Janet DeNeefe, the ‘Queen of Ubud’, as some people have called her, is the owner of Casa Luna and Indus restaurants, author of Fragrant Rice, and creator of the Ubud Readers & Writers Festival. Her connection with Bali goes way back.
When Janet De Neefe stepped off the plane in Bali in 1974, she felt an immediate connection to this island paradise. She fell in love with a Balinese and made a new life there. Janet and her husband run two of the most successful restaurants in Bali. Fragrant Rice offers insights into the ancient myths and rituals still alive in Bali, and passes on delicious recipes handed down through generations of her husband’s family.
The book originally started out as a cookbook, but that simple desire turned into a personal experience of one woman’s journey into a new and magical way of life with food as its essential ingredient. With a forward reflecting on the impact of the Bali bombing included, Fragrant Rice is is full of personal anecdotes and detailed descriptions that capture the authors enthusiasm with her adoptive culture and the extraordinary everyday life that is steeped with ancient myths, rituals and spirituality. The detailed recipes (many of which are handed down from generations of her Balinese husband’s family) and the understanding of flavours and spices are uniquely documented in this book. Janet De Neefe tells the story of her journey into the heart of Bali, from meeting her husband, to the beginnings of their Balinese cookery school, the birth of their four children and more. Hat’s off to her, is what I say. she came to Bali and jumped in with both feet, everything she has touched has turned to gold, which I’m sure was the result of a lot of hard work.
Both Janet’s restaurants, Casa Luna and Indus are very good, but her crowning achievement was the creation of the Ubud Readers & Writers Festival. This annual event draws authors from around the world, as well as Indonesia and Bali.
Ubud Readers & Writers Festival 2006, starts today, September 28th.
By Nick | Permalink
Related Posts
- Ubud Writers & Readers Festival coming soon
- Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2005-part I
- Fragrant Rice: Janet De Neefe on Food & Life in Bali
- Asia Pacific New Writing Partnership at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival
- Bali Arts Festival Denpasar Bali
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I read your blog and thought you might be able to help…
We’re starting a podcast for/by people who have immigrated to another country. We’d like to bring stories/articles by contributors FROM every continent, TO every continent. (i.e., a Mexican living in Canada, or a Scot living in France, a Dane living in Japan, an Ecuadorian living in Brazil, an Australian living in Africa, etcetera, etcetera.)
The “immigrant” category is rather large, examples include: expatriates, academics, aid workers, refugees, foreign businesspeople, spouses of “foreigners” etc.
I’ve written to quite a few organizations searching for good contributors; journalism schools, international corporations, non-profit aid organizations, etc. I’ve had a lot of interest, but not a lot of actual work submitted.
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Please help! I need people to contribute articles (2-3 pages), 3 times per year. You may of course choose the topic, it may be light or heavy. Please see the guidelines set out in our website in the “contribute here” section.
Bradley
http://www.freewebs.com/rabbitholedaily/
P.S. Podcasts will be available starting mid-to-late September, please check us out on itunes; Rabbit Hole Daily. (Go to the website for an explanation of the funny name)