Talk of Italian food in India and her name is the first one that pops in our head. Chef Ritu Dalmia’s journey has been one to marvel at – exciting, unique, challenging but an inspiring one. “The inspiration for me is tireless curiosity. I see something, I like it… I want to go back to my kitchen as fast as possible and try it all over again.”
She started an Italian restaurant in Delhi, Mezza Luna in 1993 when she was just 21. “People would ask for macaroni with baked beans,” she joked talking about a time when the taste for Italian cuisine wasn’t a thing in India. Running businesses across time zones, today, Chef Ritu is one of India’s most coveted Chefs and Restaurateurs, who owns six award-winning restaurants in India (four in Delhi and two in Mumbai) and two, namely Cittamani and Spica—with acclaimed Michelin-star chef Viviana Varese in Milan.
Chef Ritu’s entrepreneurial spirit and contribution to the hospitality industry has been recognized by many institutions, including Forbes which put her on its W Power Trailblazers List and the Indian Federation for Culinary Association, which recognised her as one of India’s 25 biggest Chefs. She was also awarded the Ordine della Stella d'Italia, the highest civilian honour of Italy.
When we asked her about her biggest achievement she did not mention any of this. Instead, she spoke of a journey very close to her heart. She spoke about her fight for the freedom to love. An iconic member of the Indian LGBTQIA+ community she was one of the six people from the LGBTQIA+ community to file a petition with the Supreme Court challenging Section 377. “It doesn’t matter what happens in my life, whether I lose my restaurants or anything else; because I think I have done what I was meant to do and why I was put on this planet for. So my bit is done.” Her contribution to the landmark 2018 repeal of the oppressive section remains her biggest achievement.