It was with a degree of trepidation that I accepted NDTV’s invitation to join the jury for its prestigious food awards. And I felt that way because of the company I was to be in. Because each one of my fellow jury members, starting with the Boss, Vir Sanghvi, had impeccable credentials. That, though, is not the only reason why the awards carry the kind of heft that they do.
But first, who are my fellow jury members?
Asma Khan
Asma Khan has a Ph.D. in British Constitutional Law from King’s College, London, but she’s now world-renowned as the founder-owner of London’s celebrated South Asian restaurant, Darjeeling Express, cookbook author and philanthropist who was featured in TIME magazine’s 2024 list of the world’s most influential people.
Marryam Reshii
Marryam Reshii is one of the country’s most influential food critics – she was shepherding the Times Food Awards for well over two decades – and is also the author of a much-admired book on spices.
Kurush Dalal
Kurush Dalal is a respected archaeologist based out of Mumbai, like his mother, the late Katy Dalal, who was also an acclaimed chronicler of Parsi Cuisine. But he’s better known as a culinary anthropologist who is widely regarded as an authority on the evolution of India’s food culture.
Shabnam Banu
Shabnam Banu from Chennai is a culinary storyteller and consultant with leading hospitality brands, whose Instagram page – @mytrystwithfood – commands a considerable following. She’s best-known for co-founding Secret Sapad Society, an experiential supper club focused on the country’s regional food traditions.
Ananya Banerjee
Ananya Banerjee is a Mumbai-based multi-talented chef, lawyer, painter, cookbook author and YouTuber. Her popups at leading hotels across the country, especially the ones where she showcases Bengali cuisine (Bangla Khabar), are as popular as her social media posts.
Anindya Basu
Anindya Basu from Kolkata pivoted to photography and culinary storytelling after pursuing a career in human resource development. A Nikon Creator and founder of Pikturenama Studios, he’s also a food and travel content creator, whose work is published at regular intervals in newspapers and magazines, and appears (along with his wife Madhushree’s recopes) on the Pikturenama website.
A group as qualified and diverse as this had to have a chairman who could distil the substance of our conversations and recommendations into coherent long lists for us to rate and rank.
And that task could only be conducted with the care it required by Vir Sanghvi, who has been writing about food and the personalities driving India’s food culture since his days as Editor of Bombay magazine, an India Today publication that he founded in 1978 as the youngest-ever editor in the country’s history.
Today, Vir is regarded as the country’s foremost and most well-travelled food critic, best known for his long-running weekly Hindustan Times food column, Rude Food, and his books, notably his biography of Madhavrao Scindia. He’s also the Chairman of Culinary Culture, which has emerged as the definitive voice of the restaurant industry, and he’s the co-founder of the restaurant reservations platform, Eazy Diner.
He was therefore able to enrich our discussions with insights drawn from years of experience. More importantly, he gave an equal opportunity to all to contribute to the jury deliberations.
That is why the long lists that emerged went well beyond the nominations that had come in. Each one of us added deserving names from places as far removed from each other – geographically and culturally – as Dimapur and Coimbatore. The long list, as a result, became studded with what Instagrammers love to call ‘hidden gems’.
At no point were we asked by anyone from marketing to favour any particular restaurant or to add any name to the list because of commercial considerations. The long lists were created entirely by the jury. And the number of categories was kept manageable. We had truly set out to honour only the Best Of The Best.
Once we got the long lists, we had to mark our top three preferences in each award category. The process was as honest and as uncomplicated as possible. The winners – I still don’t know who they are – are those restaurants and noteworthy chefs and restaurateurs who polled the most number of first preference votes.
We may not be perfect. We may have been just nine of us. But we collectively represent decades of field work. And we can say in all honesty that we did our best to come up with representative long lists and then very carefully voted for the top three in each category. So, get ready for the Big Reveal on Monday, June 15. And don’t forget to let us know what you think about the awards.
For more information about the awards, click here.
