As a child, Cheetie Kumar moved with her family from India to the United States, bringing along high hopes for the American-dream lifestyle portrayed on TV. Not everything played out that way, however. As an immigrant kid in the Bronx, figuring out how to fit in was hard. As an adult in North Carolina, finding her way meant overcoming hurdles faced by many marginalized groups. But find her way Kumar has, in part through music – she’s a guitarist in the rock group Birds of Avalon — and in part through food as a self-taught, independent chef-owner.
In 2013 Kumar opened in Raleigh, N.C., where influences and foodways of India, Southeast Asia and the American South intersected. Before closing Garland in 2022, she’d racked up multiple nominations as a James Beard Foundation Award Best Chef: Southeast. In 2023, she and her husband Paul Siler debuted Ajja in Raleigh’s Five Points neighborhood. A 2024 Beard Foundation Best New Restaurant nominee, the restaurant celebrates the diverse foodways, cultures and cooking techniques of the Mediterranean, Middle East and beyond.
“As a kid, you never want to think of yourself as disadvantaged but at some point, you acknowledge advantages that others have that aren’t available to you” Kumar says. “Even after multiple Beard nominations, I had trouble attracting top job candidates. In part, because what’s considered fine dining and what’s taught in culinary schools has long been Eurocentric. That culture drives a certain price point, which in turn supports higher revenues and the ability to afford advantages like better locations. When Garland opened, we heard comments like, ‘Why would I pay this much for Indian food?’ We weren’t even an Indian restaurant: We were a thoughtfully sourced, local farm-to-table restaurant with inspiration from many parts of Southeast Asia. It took a while to crack that glass ceiling.”
Today, Kumar sees conversations around food and foodways evolving rapidly. “It’s hand-in-hand with conversations around diversity and inclusion,” she says. “There’s focus on equal opportunity, social justice and representation and that includes discussion and acceptance of other cultures and their culinary traditions. There’s still a long way to go before BIPOC people (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) have truly equal opportunities, but thoughtful systems and employee-centric cultures are being nurtured.”
At Ajja, Kumar educates employees on the origins and history of the ingredients and techniques that inspire her cooking. Dishes are given their original names versus Anglicized versions. And her employee-centric business model ensures associates are paid equitably based on skill, knowledge level and contributions to whole.
“We set a level playing field and are transparent about opportunities and expectations,” she notes. “That includes expectations for our managers to maintain the values that we want driving our business. And it includes continuing to work on our own personal judgements and shortcomings so we can meet our team members where they are and help them grow.”
On DEI: Cheetie Kumar
Chef and Co-owner, Ajja
@cheetieku
