Chef Aarti Sequeira Reveals The Challenges Of Cooking On TV - Exclusive
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You may think the hardest part of being on a cooking show is the time restraints, but Aarti Sequeira says that is not always the biggest hurdle a chef will face. Though the television star did mention the clock as one of the major challenges during a recent Mashed interview, she shared the most difficult thing about being on camera for her was the need to be constantly smiling.
Sequeira explained that, while she is in the zone and focused on a dish, her natural tendency is to frown. "One challenge [of cooking on TV] is — it's kind of a silly one, but it comes up a lot — is that when you are chopping an onion or you're using your immersion blender in a sauce, you're not smiling. You're just sort of focused. For me, I have a resting frown. It's a Sequeira thing. My dad has a frown when he sleeps even. That was one thing that I had to learn, was not to look so mad while I was cooking."
She shared one funny moment her "resting frown" caused on set: "I still remember one time I was making a chicken tikka masala sauce, and I was using the immersion blender, and I was really focused on it because I didn't want to scrape the bottom of the pan and I wanted to get it nice and smooth. My executive producer was in my ear and he said, 'Less grimacing, please,' and I started laughing."
Smiling isn't the only challenge Aarti Sequeira faces on set
Another challenge working in food television? Performing in front of your idols. Aarti Sequeira shared a memory from the set of "Food Network Star," "I remember turning the corner and seeing Bobby Flay ... Michael Symon and Morimoto. I was like, 'What is happening right now?' That was definitely a ridiculous moment where I thought 'How am I going to impress these guys who literally can make some of the best bites you've ever had in your life?'"
Though (as stated above) Sequeira doesn't find the ticking clock to be the hardest part of food television, that doesn't mean she finds it easy. "Having this sense that we were cooking on a clock when we were shooting, whether I was shooting my cooking show or definitely when I'm cooking in competition, that sense of that clock is kind of foreign to how cooking transpired pretty much our entire lives," the chef explained.
One thing Sequeira has never found foreign about TV cooking, however, is the conversation. "I had so much practice talking and cooking at the same time just because so much of my early cooking years were cooking for friends when they would come over. Especially in our 20s, it wasn't like there were a bunch of my friends who could cook, so quite often I was cooking for them and they were hanging out and helping. And so, that was really good practice."
If you want to learn to cook like Aarti Sequeira, check out her latest project, "My Family Recipe Journal," on her website, on Amazon, or at DaySpring. And Halloween fans won't want to miss her judging "Halloween Wars" on Food Network.