‘The Great Indian Pizza Adventure’: TV series serves pizza desi way

PTI, Jun 11, 2023, 12:55 PM IST

Indian flavours will meet the Italian sourdough in ”The Great Indian Pizza Adventure”, a new TV series that presents everyone’s go-to fast food snack in a never-tasted-before desi avatar.

The 10-episode series, which premiered on GOODTiMES channel on June 4, features Jasper Reid — the man who brought Jamie’s Pizzeria and Jamie’s Italian chains to India — as he sets out on a mission to create 10 Indian pizzas inspired from 10 Indian cuisines.

”We believe pizza is what you kind of want it to be. Yes, it has its origins in Naples in Italy, but at the same time, so many cultures, including India, have bread with some kind of topping. ”So, we have been everywhere. We have done Bengal, Punjab, Kashmir, Kerala… and had an amazing time. This is like a marriage between Italy and India,” Reid, founder of Dolomite Restaurants Pvt. Ltd — the company that manages the Jamie Oliver Restaurants in India — told PTI.

The wide array of desi-foreign fusion food in ”The Great Indian Pizza Adventure” includes unique combinations such as ‘Nihari Pizza’, ‘Chingri Malai Pizza’, ‘Fish Molee Pizza’, ‘Amritsari Fish Pizza’ and ‘Sarson Ka Saag Pizza’, a vegetarian delight. In the culinary sojourn traversing through 10 Indian states, Reid meets several experts — ranging from food historians Salma Yusuf Husain, Prima Kurien to celebrity chefs Manish Mehrotra, Kunal Kapur, Sabyasachi Gorai, Ashish Bhasin and food entrepreneur Raj Sanghvi — who lend him a helping hand in whipping up best Indian-style pizzas.

According to the channel, ”The Great Indian Pizza Adventure” explores the hidden gems of ”Indian tradition, culture, cooking forms and ingredients” to come up with pizza recipes that will leave foodies wanting for more.

”We are excited to partner with Dolomite Restaurants Pvt Ltd, the all-India Master Franchisee for Jamie Oliver Restaurants in India, to bring you ‘The Great Indian Pizza Adventure’, a super delicious series where Jasper discovers Indian cuisine from its roots and creates the most delectable, decadent and never-tried-before Indian pizzas,” added Arati Singh, CEO, GOODTiMES.

Five out of the 10 desi pizzas, including ‘Bhagara Baingan Pizza’ and ‘Lai Xaak Pizza’, are currently being served as part of the special menu at selected outlets of Jamie’s Pizzeria in the Delhi-NCR region. The remaining episodes of the series will go on air every Sunday till August.