Ritu Dalmia (born 1973) is an Indian

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

and restaurateur. She is the chef and co-owner of the popular

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

restaurant Diva in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, which she established in 2000, with co-founder Gita Bhalla under partnership firm "Riga Food". Other restaurants of company include ‘Latitude 28’ and ‘Cafe Diva’. She hosted a TV cookery show, ‘Italian Khana’, for

NDTV Good Times ''Goodtimes'' is the flagship channel of Lifestyle & Media Broadcasting Ltd. It was launched in September 2007. Rebranding Goodtimes underwent a makeover in November 2013 to redefine the lifestyle entertainment category codes once again. Fro ...

for three seasons, and published her first cookbook by the same name in 2009. She’s been hosting ''Travelling Diva'' on NDTV Good Times since 2 February 2012. Dalmia is a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

and a prominent

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

rights activist. In June 2016, Dalmia and five others, all members of the

LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...

themselves, filed a writ petition in the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

challenging

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code Section 377 of the British colonial penal code criminalized all sexual acts "against the order of nature". The law was used to prosecute people engaging in oral and anal sex along with homosexual activity. The penal code remains in many former col ...

. This resulted in the 2018 landmark judgment in ''

Navtej Singh Johar and others v. Union of India Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice (2018) is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India that decriminalised all consensual sex among adults, including homosexual sex. The court was asked to dete ...

'' 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".

Career

Born in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

to a Marwari business family, 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 Hauz Khas is a neighborhood in South Delhi, its heart being the historic Hauz Khas Complex. Well known in medieval times, the Hauz Khas village has amazing buildings built around the reservoir. There are remnants of Islamic architecture rough ...

Village, Delhi, that specialised in

Mediterranean cuisine Mediterranean cuisine is the food and methods of preparation used by the people of the Mediterranean Basin. The idea of a Mediterranean cuisine originates with the cookery writer Elizabeth David's book, ''A Book of Mediterranean Food'' (1950) ...

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 Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...

restaurant on

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, with partner Andy Verma. 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 Greater Kailash (often referred to as GK) is a residential area in South Delhi consisting of prime and luxurious real estate in several neighborhoods and multiple markets. It is divided into two zones, namely Parts 1 and 2, located around a se ...

II that continues to be a popular restaurant in Delhi even today. Apart from the café at the

Italian Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of Italy, excluding honorary consulates. Italy has a large global network of diplomatic missions. It is the only country in the world to have an embassy on its own territory—the Italian embassy to the Holy S ...

's Italian Cultural Centre in

Chanakyapuri Chanakyapuri (Sanskrit: चाणक्यपुरी; IAST: Cāṅakyapurī ) is a neighbourhood and diplomatic enclave established in the 1950s in New Delhi. It is also a sub-division of the New Delhi district and plays host to the majority ...

, Delhi, 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. In 2007, she started hosting the TV-series, "Italian Khana" on

. She subsequently released a cookbook by the same name in 2009. The show lasted three seasons and won numerous television awards. She has been a Consulting Chef with ''Divattra'', the spa restaurant at

Ashok Hotel The Ashok Hotel is a five-star deluxe resort in the 50, Niti Marg, Diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. This hotel is part of Ashok Group, owned by the India Tourism Development Corporation. Description The hotel has 550 guest rooms ...

, Delhi. She was awarded the

Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity The Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity ( it, Stella della solidarietà italiana ) was founded as a national order by the first President of the Italian Republic, Enrico De Nicola, in 1947, to recognise civilian and military expatriates or ...

Government of Italy The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President. The Italian Constitutio ...

in December 2011. Dalmia published ''Travelling Diva: Recipes from around the World'' in 2012, featuring her favourite recipes from European, Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines.

Works

* ''Italian Khana''. Random House, India, 2009. . * ''Italian Khana: Dinner Party''. Random House, India. . * ''Italian Khana: Desserts''. Random House, India. . * ''Italian Khana: Vegetarian''. Random House, India. . * ''Travelling Diva: Recipes from around the World'', Hachette India 2012. . * ''DIVA Green'', Hachette India 2014. .

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalmia, Ritu Indian chefs 1973 births Living people People from Delhi Marwari people Indian television chefs Indian restaurateurs Women cookbook writers Indian food writers Chefs of Italian cuisine Women chefs Indian LGBT businesspeople Lesbians Indian LGBT writers LGBT chefs