尝外国美食可是许多旅游行程的亮点，但有一群印度富人到国外就餐时，却采用了与众不同的方式：带上自己的厨师。
来 自沙漠之邦拉贾斯坦（Rajasthan）的马尔瓦尔人是严格的素食主义者，他们在印度因严守传统印度教习俗和富有而知名──他们的财富通常来自于贸易。 在马尔瓦尔家庭中，厨师占有极其重要的地位，因此他们被称为马拉哈吉，意即“小国王”。在印度和其它地方，马尔瓦尔人也因为走到哪里都带着厨师而出名。
上 个月就有个著名例子，通过股市交易发财致富的孟买亿万富翁拉凯什口詹占瓦拉（Rakesh Jhunjhunwala）让他的8个厨师飞往毛里求斯，为他的50岁生日庆典准备寿筵。厨师们圈起毛里求斯洲际酒店（InterContinental Mauritius）厨房的一角，用来准备蔬菜料理口豆羹口玛色拉茶和甜点。
酒店经理拉朱•甘迪（Raju Gandi）说，“他们连调味品都是自带的。没有人比印度人和中国人更锺情于本国的食品了。”
越 来越多的印度人开始到国外度假──根据世界旅游业理事会（World Travel and Tourism Council）公布的数字，去年有1,080万印度人到海外度假，比前年几乎增加了10%。对他们来说，在国外时爱吃本国做法的食物，旅行时随身带着印 度煎饼、腌菜甚至是做豆羹和米饭的炉子都是很平常的。
对许多马尔瓦尔人、包括那些不如詹占瓦拉有钱的人而言，即使住在五星级酒店里，也没有什么菜能比自家厨师做的更好吃。有些人到美国等地旅游时会带着能说英语的厨师，这样厨师也可以去买菜。
孟买的房地产公司高管加亚特里•鲁亚（Gayatri Ruia）说，“我们在饮食问题上严守传统，我们的饮食是一种生活方式，我们都是恪守成规的人。当不用考虑成本时，带着自己的厨师，确保能享用自己喜爱的美食是完全可以理解的。”
烹 饪肉类、家禽、鱼和蛋类的厨房做出来的食物，马尔瓦尔人是不会吃的。他们的马哈拉吉通常都是婆罗门──印度人中的祭司种姓，属于上层阶级。他们做的食物味 道辛辣，风味独特，特点是食物中有许多干菜、豆类和沙漠硬浆果，烹饪时使用酪奶而不是水。许多富裕的马尔瓦尔人都严密保护着他们的马哈拉吉。厨师通常将厨 艺传给自己的孩子，这样马哈拉吉就可以世世代代为同一个马尔瓦尔家族服务。
许多印度人，包括马尔瓦尔人，到国外举办特别的家庭盛会，例如婚礼、周年纪念日和生日时，也会带着厨师──这是近年来加速发展的一个趋势。
现 年48岁的马哈拉吉马赫什•普拉萨德（Mahesh Prasad）已经在新德里的家具出口商普加•贾茵（Puja Jain）家中工作25年了。他的父亲退休前在贾茵家当了40年的厨师。贾茵和父亲曼朱口科塔里（Manju Kothari）、母亲达兰•普拉卡什•科塔里（Dharam Prakash Kothari）出门时总是要带上厨师和食材，因为除了自家做的饭菜，其他食物他们都觉得很可疑。这意味着，他们外出旅行时不仅要带着厨师，还要带着风干 的食材、调味品、甚至是食用油。
贾茵和她的70位家人今年在迪拜（Dubai）欢庆新年时，普拉萨德和他手下的两名初级厨师也在那里，为他们烹饪正餐，也就是传统的马尔瓦尔塔利套餐──一豆羹和蔬菜混合，再搭配上米饭、煎饼、腌菜、酸奶、酸辣酱、色拉和薄脆饼。
贾茵说，“没有哪个马尔瓦尔人旅行时不带着调味品、腌菜和我们喝茶时必备的风味小吃。这主要是为了让自己感觉舒心。外出度假时身边的一切都是新的──新的地方、新的文化和新的语言──因此能吃到熟悉合口的食物真的感觉很好。”
Sampling foreign foods is a highlight of many tourist itineraries but a particular group of rich Indians take a different approach to eating overseas; they bring along their own chefs.
The Marwari people, from the desert state of Rajasthan, are strict vegetarians known in India for their adherence to traditional Hindu customs and for their wealth -- often from trading. Their chefs are known as maharaj, or little kings, because of their importance in the Marwari household, and Marwaris are also gaining renown in India and elsewhere for taking these chefs with them wherever they go.
In one notable example last month, Mumbai-based billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who made his fortune trading on the stock market, flew out to Mauritius his eight chefs to cater for his 50th birthday celebration. The chefs cordoned off a section of the InterContinental Mauritius kitchen to prepare the vegetable dishes, dals, or lentils, masala tea, and sweets.
'They even brought their own spices,' said the hotel's manager Raju Gandi. 'No one is more particular about eating their own food than the Indians and the Chinese.'
A growing number of Indians are holidaying abroad -- 10.8 million of them vacationed overseas last year, up almost 10% from the previous year, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. It's not uncommon for them to prefer to eat home-cooked food when overseas, packing away a paratha, or flat bread, and pickles, or even their own stove on which to cook lentils and rice, while traveling.
But for many Marwaris, including those of more modest means than Mr. Jhunjhunwala, nothing less than food prepared by their own chef will do even if they are staying in five-star hotels. Some are known to take an English-speaking cook when traveling to the U.S. or other destinations so that he can do the grocery shopping too.
'We are pretty orthodox when it comes to food,' said Gayatri Ruia, a real-estate executive from Mumbai. 'Our food is a way of life and we are creatures of habit. When cost is no consideration, it makes sense to take your own cook so you can be sure of enjoying the food you love.'
Marwaris will not eat food that has been prepared in kitchens where meat, poultry, fish or eggs have also been present. Their maharaj are usually Brahmins, an elite, priestly caste of Indians. They cook food that is fiery and distinctive, and features lots of dried vegetables, beans and hard desert berries, with buttermilk used instead of water. Many wealthy Marwaris guard their maharaj closely, and chefs often pass on their skills to their own children, so that several generations of maharaj can end up working for generations of the same Marwari family.
Many Indians, including Marwaris, are also taking their chefs with them when they go overseas to celebrate special family occasions such as weddings, anniversaries and birthdays -- a trend that has accelerated in recent years.
Mahesh Prasad, a 48-year-old maharaj, has worked for New Delhi home-furnishings exporter Puja Jain for 25 years. His father was chef for the Jains for 40 years before retiring. Ms. Jain and her parents, Manju and Dharam Prakash Kothari, always take their cooks and foodstuffs with them because they don't trust the provenance of any food except what is made in their home. That means traveling not just with the chef but also the dry ingredients, spices and even the cooking oil.
When Ms. Jain and 70 of her family rang in the New Year in Dubai this year, Mr. Prasad and his two junior chefs were there to cook dinner or traditional Marwari thali -- a mix of lentil and vegetable dishes, plus rice, chapattis, pickles, yoghurt, chutneys, salad and poppadum.
'You'll never see a Marwari traveling without spices, pickles and the savoury snacks that we must have at tea time,' said Ms. Jain. 'It's basically about comfort. Everything about a holiday is new -- the place, culture and language -- so it's nice to have the comfort of familiar food.'