Photo: Food Network
Last night,
The Next Food Network Star crowned its Season 6 winner: Los Angeles based food blogger Aarti Sequeira edged out world's greatest Dad candidate Herb Mesa and "Big Chef" Tom Pizzica. She now joins the ranks of Bobby Flay,
Rachael Ray and Guy Fieri in the
Food Network's stable of TV personalities, with the hopes of spicing things up with a little Indian flavors on her new show
Aarti Party.
Although it wasn't necessarily made evident during the season, Sequeira is a former producer for CNN who over the last year developed her own
YouTube cooking show that just so happened to be called -- yep, you guessed it -- "Aarti Paarti." So even before the season started taping, she was quite used to being around cameras, both from a technical standpoint and in developing an onscreen personality. Consistent throughout the season was her point of view -- the party seeks to fuse Indian flavors with recognizable American favorites, introducing a new way of using spices in the kitchen.
The first season of
Aarti Party premieres this Sunday, August 22 at 12 noon, where she dives into Bombay sloppy joes and pistachio pops. Other first season highlights that look promising: a recipe for quick pickled cucumbers using rice vinegar and cilantro, shrimp and pineapple "not-so" po' boys and a pulled pork smothered in a mango barbecue sauce.
Slashfood spoke with Sequeria about the origins of "Aarti Paarti" and making Indian food more accessible in the United States. Read the full interview after the jump.