26-06-2025
Chef Vijay Kumar of Semma in New York on winning the James Beard
In the heart of Samudirapatti village, an unexpected flex board now stands tall and proud. Bearing a picture of Vijay Kumar who recently won the prestigious James Beards award for best Chef in New York State, the banner declares that the village 'congratulates son of Chinnazhagu Ambalam and Kanthammal for winning the award', helpfully comparing it the Oscars, to underline its importance to passersby.
In New York, Chef Vijay swivels his chair in delight, holding up his phone to give us a better look at a picture of the banner. His parents wanted him to become 'obviously an engineer, or a doctor,' he says, but he defied tradition, much to their disappointment. Now, arguably one of the world's most celebrated chefs, his restaurant Semma, set in the heart of Manhattan has won a Michelin, and become the first Indian restaurant to top the New York's 100 best restaurants list. But it was only last week, after he won the James Beard, that his mother was truly impressed.
'She didn't understand what I was doing for a long time. I tried to explain to her... what is Michelin, what is New York times, but she didn't understand. Now the whole village is celebrating. They put up a flex for me, near where I went to school. I thought it was funny, but also kind of cool,' says Vijay, with his trademark disarming honesty. 'My mom is now, like, my son is doing something big, because the whole village is congratulating her, buying sweets and feeding her...' he adds, visibly thrilled. 'And my sister said people were crying in her office when the announcement was made.'
India, and specifically South India, has been celebrating because this is being seen as a win for regional cooking, which has been dismissed on the world stage for so many years. Backed by Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya, who run the popular restaurants Dhamaka and Adda in New York, Vijay was given the freedom to not just cook the food he grew up eating, but also to celebrate it.
'My hometown is Natham, near Madurai. My dad was from Samuthirappatti and my mom is from Arukkampatti, which is super tiny. When we went there for school holidays, there was no TV, no electricity, nothing. My grandparents would take take us hunting and fishing. We would forage for snails in the paddy fields and cook them in a mud pot. It was such simple food, but it tasted so good when we ate it off the banana leaves – I miss all those moments.'
So he, Chintan and Ronnie decided to take a risk, and recreate that meal in the food capital of the world. 'We cook unapologetic food – we want to cook just how we cook back home,' says Vijay. 'It took us so long to have the guts to do this – even when we started Semma, I was really scared. Who is going to eat snails on the menu? Who is going to eat goats intestines or deer? It was very risky, but we took a chance. Someone had to do it.'
That was not all. Just like the food, they decided the menu would also be unapologetically South Indian. 'We made sure we make all the names of the food were in Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu. The moong bean dish, for example, is Mulaikattiya Thaniyam on the menu. After all, Italian and French restaurants list their dishes in Italian or French.'
Of course, there were push backs and some inevitable negative comments from diners more used to stereotypical Indian fare, like chicken tikka masala, vindaloo and naan. But Semma's loyal clientele, specifically the Indian diaspora clapped back fiercely. Most memorably television host, model and author, Padmalakshmi, went on Instagram to declare 'Semma isn't made for you; it's made for us. And I'm pretty sure if nobody but Desis went there for the rest of its existence, it would still be booked solid for the next decade.'
'I have never felt this much love in my whole life,' says Vijay. 'I feel like I am a child of Tamil Nadu, a child of India actually. India has been celebrating so hard... I am still trying to catch up on all my Instagram DMs, I am still overcome.' He adds, 'Coming from my background, when I look back at my journey I just get goosebumps. I cant's express how blessed I am. I know I use this word all the time, but I have to keep using it.'
It was always tough to get a reservation at Semma, now it seems close to impossible. He holds up his phone, 'I have 1,290 people waiting for reservations tonight, and we can seat 65. People are also standing in 100 degree fahrenheit heat to get in, from 4 pm. I feel so bad we can't seat more of them.'
However, even as guests stand in line for his cooking, Vijay craves food from home.
'My mother does a really good fish curry, nice kurma and idli, idiappam... She is a really amazing cook,' he says. She has not been to New York, or eaten at Semma yet, so the last thing he made her was rice and sambar before leaving for the US. 'She is a a tough critic. Very hard to please,' he confesses.
It has been a long time since he has been home. 'I haven't been in India in years, even before Covid – things have been happening back-to-back here,' Vijay says, adding that he looks forward to coming home. 'I want to touch the soil and just get its blessing. I am thankful to everything that soil gave me. I want to eat on a banana leaf, to take rice and sambar, and mix it all with my fingers,' he says.
Among his list of things to do when home, he has been asked to speak at his old school in Samudirapatti. 'They want me to tell my story to the students, as they feel it will inspire them. I think I have lot of responsibility now. I always work hard, but I think I need to work harder.'
Vijay has been thinking about what to say to the students, who pass by his flex banner everyday now. 'Keep trying. Nothing is easy in life. If it comes easy what is the point? I remember when I went to this school, for two years I had to walk two km in bare feet – I had no shoes, because we couldn't afford them. But I would not change any of that, because it has led me here.'
