K. T. Achaya was born in on October 6, 1923 in Kollegal, in the Indian state of Karnataka. After graduating from University of Madras in 1943, he worked in Indian Institute of Science for the next three years. He did his PhD work in T. P. Hilditch's lab in University of Liverpool in United Kingdom.

He researched on cottonseed processing and castor oil derivatives in Regional Research Laboratory in Hyderabad for 22 years starting from 1950. During this time, he published 150 publications and acquired 11 patents. In 1971, he became the Executive Director of Protein Foods and Nutrition Development Association of India in Mumbai. In 1977, Achaya moved to the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore as Consultant to the United Nations University (UNU) Programme for advanced training in Food Science and Technology for fellows from developing countries. He retired from CFTRI in 1983 and wrote several books after his retirement.

K. T. Achaya published a few books on oil milling and food history of India.

• Oilseeds and Oil Milling in India: A Cultural and Historical Survey (1990),
• GHANI: The Traditional Oil Mill of India (1993)
• The Food Industries of British India (1994)
• The Story of our Food (2000)
• Indian food, A Historical Companion (Oxford University Press, 1998)