The new Gujarat titans

I don't think it is too much of a stretch to say that Gujaratis are among the most influential people in today's India. The country's most powerful man is a proud Gujarati.

So is his number two. Likewise for rich people. India's two richest men are Gujaratis: Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani. Among tech billionaires, Azim Premji is Gujarati.

I claim no kinship other than a shared ethnicity with these big shots. My only point is this: if Gujaratis are really calling the shots in New India, then why does our food not get the respect it deserves?

Take chefs. A much higher proportion of them, than is justified by their presence in our population, are Punjabis. Show me a chef who has judged MasterChef India and is not a Punjabi and I will show you a unicorn.

When I was last in Ahmedabad, I wandered through the kitchen of the excellent, new ITC Narmada, looking for Gujarati chefs. Not much luck. And of course, in other cities it is even harder to find Gujarati chefs.

Over Christmas, at the new Mementos by ITC in Udaipur, I was surprised and delighted to find that not only was the chef, Nikhil Merchant, a Gujarati, he had such a terrific hand that no matter what he made, from fresh farsan to the creamiest scrambled eggs, it was always delicious.

What do Gaggan Anand, Vineet Bhatia, Vikas Khanna, Atul Kochchar, Karam Sethi, Garima Arora and Sat Bains have in common? Of course, they are all Punjabis.