Photo by Esther Mathew
UTD Dining and Auxiliary Services hosted chef, television
star and journalist Aarti Sequeira this month. Sequeira graduated from
Northwestern University as a journalist, worked for CNN and produced a show on
HBO. Not long after, Sequeira was the winner of the sixth season of Food
Network’s “The Next Food Network Star” and hosted her own cooking show “Aarti
Party.” She’s known for her cooking style: American classics with an Indian
twist. The Mercury sat down with Sequeira to talk about her career path, her
love of spices and diversity in media today.
Q: Something that you’ve consistently incorporated into your
dishes is the influence of Indian and Middle Eastern flavors. Could you explain
the importance of staying with those themes?
A: Guy Fieri calls me the spice queen. It’s like his new
name for me. I was like ‘Alright, I’ll take it.’ Because I am. I’m obsessed
with spices. I’m obsessed with those flavors. And I think it’s because, yes, I
grew up with them. The idea of going to spice market, I mean, I would do that
over going to see Beyonce, you know what I mean? I want to go to a spice
market. I think for me, the thing about spices is that they’re just little
gifts. Not only do they offer so much flavor, they help take something humble,
like a cauliflower, and they just transform it into something that is royal.
There are dishes in India, and I’m sure it’s the same all over the world, that
the highest of high classes eat and the lowest of low classes eat, and it’s the
same dish. And to me, that’s super powerful, right? It’s the great equalizer.
In India and in the Middle East, a lot of that is spices, so that’s one part of
the gift. The other part of that gift is that they are naturally so good for
you. I mean, who is not taking a turmeric pill right now? I’m just really
obsessed with them for those two reasons. They can transform humble food and
make it something awesome, and that they offer so many health benefits.
Q: After winning “The Next Food Network Star,” you hosted
your own show, where you became one of the only Asian hosts on like a popular
TV network. How do you feel about the current representation of Asians on
popular TV shows such as Food Network and beyond?
A: When I look at the landscape right now, I’m amazed, I
would never have guessed. When I won, I remember that there were things that I
wanted to do and I got the impression that I wasn’t a man, and I wasn’t white.
I needed to just lower my ambition just a little bit because it just wasn’t
realistic, you know? Now I’m kind of sitting in pole position — and not through
my own doing, I’m standing on the shoulders of other people — but I just think
that there’s so many more opportunities for everybody. And listen, I’m married
to a white man, so I don’t want that voice to be extinguished either. I hope
the next step is that we’re not noticing people’s gender or race, we’re
actually listening to the words that are coming out of their mouth. You know
what I mean? We’re not looking at their dress size, we’re not looking at their
exquisite skin, we should be listening to what people have to say, because
that’s much more important: that comes from the inside. I’m really excited
about it, but I’m ready for the next thing where we’re not counting and saying,
‘Well, there’s one black person, one Asian person, one white person.’ You know
what I mean? It needs to get to a point where it’s like, ‘There’s a bunch of
people and they are really smart, and they have great things to say.’
Q: What advice would you give to us students who are trying
to figure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives?
A: I think that the biggest thing that I have learned is to
expect to get uncomfortable, to expect the rug to be pulled out from under you,
and to be okay with it. It’s hard, you’re going to freak out, but the freak out
was part of the lesson. When I realized that I was not going to be a journalist
anymore — I had put so much of my identity in that — I didn’t know who I was
anymore. There were mornings I would wake up and I was like, ‘Lord Jesus, why
did you wake me up again? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing.’
Especially as college students, your entire life up to now has been school, and
your path, and the next thing you do, and making a living, and all of that kind
of stuff. Of course, I can’t come around and be like, ‘Well, it’s not that
important.’ It is important. But your identity is not your career, okay? It’s
okay, if things go sideways. At some point, they may, they may not, they
probably will. And it’s okay. You can be comfortable in that. Know that that’s
a period where you’re actually going to figure out who you are. It’s okay if
you end up doing something that you didn’t go to school for, or you didn’t
expect yourself to do. There’s usually a huge gift coming your way in those
times.