Gujaratis share a strong relationship with food, and this to me is neither a stereotype nor an exaggeration. As a Maharashtrian, eating meals at my gujju best friend’s house was always a delight. The community has a wonderful knack for experimenting with popular dishes, and it’s almost as if they hack the food to make it their own.
One such dish is their own version of pizza. My friend’s baa (grandmother), a frail and ever-smiling lady, would replace the traditional pizza base with bhakri, which is a round and crispy flatbread usually made from jowar or bajra. Her cooking style was entirely desi — she would lace spread tomato puree on the bhakri and add cheese, onions, peppers and chaat on top. Then she’d place the dish on a pan to cook for 15 minutes, and out would come a thin, crispy and delicious pizza.
For the longest time, I believed this was the right and healthy way to eat pizza, until I learnt about the existence of the original Italian version. So imagine my…