Indian chef globalizes Tamil fares and wins “Food Oscar”

In Manhattan’s West Village, cooking trends change with the seasons, and chef Vijay Kumar is shaping a quiet revolution.

His 2025 James Beard Award won the James Beard Award, and this month New York State is not only a personal recognition, but also a cultural turning point.

Chennai-based culinary historian Rakesh Raghunathan Padma LakshmiVijay Kumar’s recognition reflects the growth of South Indian sound during the global cooking stage. ”

“Tamil cuisine – Along with Sri Lankan Tamils ​​and other South Indian traditions, it is increasingly accepted by diners around the world because of a refined, rich and deeply rooted in culture.”

Kumar, 44, was born in a small agricultural village of Arasampatti in Madurai, southern Tamil Nadu, and has been cooked from memory – forests and foraging, wood stoves, his mother and his mother and grandmother serve family meals from Scratch.

When he took the stage at the JB Awards ceremony, he said: “The food I grew up with, the food I was careful, the fire, the soul is now occupying the main stage.” This is a moment of deep emotional and cultural pride in Kumar.

“There is no food for the poor or the food for the rich. It’s food. It’s powerful. The real luxury is being able to connect with each other around the dining table.”

For Kumar, victory is a personal milestone, but it is also a powerful popularity.

“When I started cooking, I never thought a dark-skinned boy from Tamil Nadu could get into a room like this,” he said in his acceptance speech. So it was important for him to wear a Tamil costume in a James Beard ceremony in a black tie.

Recently, Kumar was trolled by a pair of influencers in New York. Recipe writer and culinary ambassador Padma Lakshmi quickly went out of his way, calling on influencers to be culturally insensitive.

Speaking to the BBC, Lakshmi said: “The story of Vijay is not only important to food in South India, but also the story of a man who cooks with modest means and limited resources.”

“This wit not only drives his work ethics, but also enhances his sense of flavor, ingredients and the world. He is a beacon of hope for young people around the world, and if you trust and develop your senses and skills, you can go further in your creative career.”

Kumar’s journey did not start well.

He couldn’t afford engineering schools in big cities, but chose the culinary school – starting his journey at the Connecticut Hotel in Chennai, cooking in cruise ships and kitchens, and eventually working in the Dosa in San Francisco.

His real breakthrough was opening up Semma’s – the 2021 Tamil Slang word “Fantastic” in the 2021 Tamil Slang word “Fantastic”.

The three discovered a kind of “a common desire to respect our legacy and tell the world who our true food is.”

“In that moment, it wasn’t just about identity,” Mazumdar told the BBC. “For a long time, Indian food has lived under the veil of made-up, watered northwest lenses. With Semma, we started pulling the curtains back and sharing something more honest.”

Kumar seizes the opportunity to share his food with the world. “When we started talking about the food we grew up eating, his eyes lit up, which rarely gave the restaurant menu,” Mazumdar recalls.

Kumar’s strength lies in providing all rural food for seasonal, hyper-local authentic rural food and built entirely from scratch. He said his farm-to-table method is to cook with “made by my mother and grandmother.” Semma is a celebration of this simplicity, he added.

This simplicity resonated.

Semma’s menu ignores the clichés that usually define Indian food abroad. There is no butter chicken or Naan here, and Kumar’s epiphany brings an unlikely encounter: French Susan.

As a kid, on days when rice was scarce, he would feed snails with his family in the rice fields, which would be cooked in a salty tamarind sauce. Kumar admits he is ashamed of being a boy because it “feels like poor food–until I see the pride of the French serving Escargot”.

Today, the dish is Nathai Pirattal, proudly sits on Semma’s menu, not for memory scarcity, but as a symbol of resilience and cultural pride.

Semma’s menu – Chili Rasam, Tamarind Crab, Banana Flower Vadai, the ubiquitous Dosa – provides emotional connections for many diaspora and inspiration for beginners.

Kumar intends to bring village-style Tamil Food to upscale attractions, winning a range of admirers in the restaurant space in downtown New York.

There are deep, regional and strong emotional connections in this food.

These cocktails are nods to Tamil movie stars like Rajnikanth and Silk Smitha, and the warmth of Chennai. Even the kitchen is a space of intention – asking the chef to prepare food with “gratitude and mindfulness”.

“I invited him to plan a black tie dinner for 650 guests at the Golden Dinner in Los Angeles, and he made us all proud. A year later, people are still talking about how incredible the food is.”

Awards and honors feel like the natural progression of his journey. Semma is the first New York restaurant to win a Michelin star in South Indian cuisine and on the New York Times’ top 100 restaurants. Now it’s Kumar’s JBA.

In many ways, Kumar is not only serving food—he is serving the revolution of memory, pride and quiet.

His James Beard win is a recognition of his talent, but it is also a surety that the bold spices and affectionate simplicity of regional Indian cuisine belong to the center of the global dining table.

Lakshmi said Kumar’s victory inspired “the curiosity of young people from the Indian diaspora and pride themselves on the way we eat”. “This will be his greatest legacy.”

Mazumdar added: “This victory shows that regionality is important and that our story and roots are valuable on the world stage.”