Welcome to another episode of Biscuits and Jam from Southern Living.

I'm Sid Evans, editor-in-chief of Southern Living magazine.

We've recorded these episodes as we've all sheltered at home, and between passionate conversations about Southern food, you'll also hear how these cultural icons have been dealing with the pandemic.

My guest today has brought a combination of her rich Indian heritage and Southern culinary flair to the vibrant and supportive food culture of

Raleigh, North Carolina.

They grow a lot of squash and tomatoes and zucchini and turnips and mustard and all of the

things that are so identified with the South, but they're also very identified to me by my

childhood in India, in northern India.

You may have seen our piece on Chidi Kumar in the September 2019 issue of Southern Living.

Born to Indian parents in Pennsylvania,

Chidi and her family moved to India when she was just six months old.

About eight years later, they relocated back to America, and her mom and dad,

both biochemists, worked tirelessly to secure permanent resident status. Chidi's mother lost her

own parents in the bloody partition of India as a child, but food eventually became the language that Chidi and her mother shared.

Her love for Indian cooking and an attraction to the American South after college sparked

Chidi's culinary imagination. Meanwhile, she also became an avid musician, touring and releasing albums

throughout the 2000s with her bands

The Cherry Valence and Birds of Avalon.

As a result, she's often referred to in articles as a rock star chef.

Cheaty opened the acclaimed restaurant Garland in 2013, serving Asian and Indian dishes with a distinctly

southern twist. Since then, Garland has become a cornerstone of Raleigh's food scene,

and Cheaty has been a four-time James Beard Award semi-finalist, as well as a finalist here in 2020.

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