Ritu Dalmia

Ritu Dalmia (born 1973) is an Indian celebrity chef and restaurateur. She is the chef and co-owner of the popular Italian restaurant Diva in Delhi, which she established in 2000, with co-founder Gita Bhalla under partnership firm "Riga Food".[1] Other restaurants of company include ‘Latitude 28’ and ‘Cafe Diva’.[2][3] She hosted a TV cookery show, ‘Italian Khana’, for NDTV Good Times for three seasons, and published her first cookbook by the same name in 2009.[4][5]

Ritu Dalmia
Born1973 (age 49–50)
Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India
Occupation(s)Celebrity chef, restaurateur, LGBT activist
Known forItalian cuisine

She’s been hosting Travelling Diva on NDTV Good Times since 2 February 2012.[6]

Dalmia is a lesbian and a prominent LGBT rights activist. In June 2016, Dalmia and five others, all members of the LGBT community themselves, filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.[7] This resulted in the 2018 landmark judgment in Navtej Singh Johar and others v. Union of India in which the Supreme Court unanimously declared the law unconstitutional "in so far as it criminalises consensual sexual conduct between adults of the same sex".[8]

Career

Born in Kolkata to a Marwari business family,[9][10][11] she joined her family business of marble stone at the age of 16. Her work led her to Italy for sourcing, where she developed a taste for the Italian cuisine and started learning more about it.

In 1993, at the age of 22, Dalmia started her first restaurant 'MezzaLuna' in the Hauz Khas Village, Delhi, that specialised in Mediterranean cuisine with an "Italian accent". Unfortunately, the restaurant was unsuccessful and she sold it after three years.

In 1996, Dalmia moved to London, where she opened the first Indian fine dining restaurant on King's Road, with partner Andy Verma.[12] The restaurant was a big success and received good reviews, however, unable to settle in London, Dalmia sold off her shares of restaurant to Verma, and returned to Delhi in 2000. In the same year, she partnered up with Gita Bhalla to open ‘Diva’ Italian restaurant in Greater Kailash II[1][13] that continues to be a popular restaurant in Delhi even today.[14][15]

Apart from the café at the Italian Embassy's Italian Cultural Centre in Chanakyapuri, Delhi,[13] she also runs ‘Diva Café’ in Greater Kailash I, ‘Latitude 28’ at the Alliance Francaise, Delhi and ‘DIVA Piccola’ at the Hauz Khas village. Dalmia also established a catering business.[2][9]

In 2007, she started hosting the TV-series, "Italian Khana" on NDTV Good Times. She subsequently released a cookbook by the same name in 2009. The show lasted three seasons and won numerous television awards.[10][16] She has been a Consulting Chef with Divattra, the spa restaurant at Ashok Hotel, Delhi.[17]

She was awarded the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity by Government of Italy in December 2011.[18]

Dalmia published Travelling Diva: Recipes from around the World in 2012, featuring her favourite recipes from European, Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines.[12][19]

Works
  • Italian Khana. Random House, India, 2009. ISBN 8184000219.
  • Italian Khana: Dinner Party. Random House, India. ISBN 8184001029.
  • Italian Khana: Desserts. Random House, India. ISBN 978-81-8400-103-7.
  • Italian Khana: Vegetarian. Random House, India. ISBN 978-81-8400-101-3.
  • Travelling Diva: Recipes from around the World, Hachette India 2012. ISBN 9789350092811.
  • DIVA Green, Hachette India 2014. ISBN 9789350092811.

References
  1. "The food DIVA". The Hindu. 11 December 2004. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012.
  2. "Ritu Dalmia talks travel". Conde Nast Traveller. 16 December 2011.
  3. "Chef's Delight – Taking on the stars". Mint. 17 March 2008.
  4. "Italian Khana". NDTV Good Times. Archived from the original on 16 June 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  5. "Something's Cooking: For 17 years now, Ritu Dalmia has been serving Italian Khana. And she is a purist". Outlook Business.
  6. "Traveling Diva". NDTV Good Times. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  7. "Many ups and downs in battle against 377". The Indian Express. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  8. Safi, Michael (6 September 2018). "Campaigners celebrate as India decriminalises homosexuality". the Guardian. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  9. Vir Sanghvi (21 August 2008). "Rude Food: Portrait of a Diva". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 7 July 2009.
  10. "Ritu Dalmia, author of cookbook travelling diva, whips it up". The Telegraph (Kolkata). 30 January 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  11. Dalmia, Ritu (12 August 2016). "My freedom to love: 'I was 23 when I realised I was gay. I told my parents. The next day they sent a box of mangoes for my partner at the time'". India Today. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  12. "There's a story behind every dish in this book". India Today. 25 December 2011.
  13. "New-age entrepreneur: young, dynamic and successful". The Tribune. 16 November 2003.
  14. Pippa De Bruyn; Keith Bain; David Allardice; Shonar Joshi (2010). "Delhi". Frommer's India. John Wiley & Sons. p. 442. ISBN 978-0470602645.
  15. Sarina Singh; Lindsay Brown, Mark Elliott, Paul Harding.. (2009). Lonely Planet India. Lonely Planet. p. 151. ISBN 978-1741791518.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. "Italian Khana: Best Cookery Show At The Indian Telly Awards, 2009". NDTV Good Times. Archived from the original on 16 June 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  17. "VOTERS SPEAK: Ritu Dalmia". Indian Express. 27 November 2008.
  18. "About the Anchor". NDTV Good Times. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012.
  19. "All Things Food". Indian Express. 15 December 2011.
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