James Beard Award for The Best Chef in New York! For Vijay Kumar, whose roots and heart lie in the land of his hometown Natham, in Dindigul district, and the green expanse of the paddy fields of his grandparents’ place, Arukkampatti, a village in Madurai district, the win feels beyond incredible. It’s an honour to the food he grew up eating, a tribute to his grandmother’s hyperlocal dishes, his mother’s kitchen tips and hacks; an award to his identity, to his unapologetic cooking.
Wearing a powder blue coloured kurta and a veshti, the executive chef of Semma speaks at the 2025 James Beard Awards, as excitement gushes through his nerves. “I come from a small farming village in Tamil Nadu, which is in the Southern part of India, where food was a way to care for each other, it was a celebration, it was survival; and I never imagined the journey would lead me till here, to this stage receiving incredible honour,” he says.
The restaurant, Semma, which took form in 2021, in Greenwich, New York, was built with a tinge of his childhood, a blob of his food culture, where the ingredients — his grandmother’s recipes, the freshly ground spices — are served like an unforgettable fragment of his life. Receiving the 2025 James Beard Award is equally a win for the Indians, on many layers. His profound words tower over the food politics, cutting through the differences based on plates and palettes, as at the ceremony, he says, “There is nothing called a poor person’s food or rich person’s food. It’s food. It’s powerful, and the real luxury is to be able to connect with each other around the dinner table. Tonight, the Indian cuisine stands tall, The Tamil food stands tall, my own food stands tall…”
Despite standing on the peak of his culinary voyage, he would never want to erase his humble upbringing. “When I started cooking, I never thought a dark-skinned boy from Tamil Nadu could make it to a room like this,” his words echo at the award ceremony. The 25 years of his life in the culinary field were always about staying true to his ethics, uncompromised, and unapologetic. His vacations, outings with grandparents, the fishing and hunting sessions, relishing grandmother’s food wrapped in banana leaves, were probably where he drew food ideas from, teaching him to retain the raw flavours of nature and resist sophistication. Among the smoky flavours of the beloved Mulaikattiya Thaniya, flavoursome Dindigul Biryani, the crispy Nathai Pirattal, and many other interesting blends served on banana leaves, he mentions the customers’ favourites, his signature dishes — Gunpowder Dosa and Paniyaram.
At Semma, Vijay says, they are not trying to dilute the taste by adjusting the taste according to Westerners. “We cook our food just like how we cook back home. And New York, really appreciates the fact that we are true to ourselves. Looks like the whole of America has guaranteed to accept that,” he tells CE.
Vijay, who earned his first Michelin star in 2022 for Semma, making it the only Indian restaurant in the United States with that honour, and previously for a restaurant called Rasa, in San Fracisco Bay Area, sums up his journey of recognition: “Three years ago, we were number 12; in 2024, we were number seven, and then number one in 2025; that’s shocking, that’s insane,” he shares.
This year has been rewarding for the chef — named No.1 restaurant in New York list by The New York Times, and the James Beard. An elated Vijay shares, “This is the first time ever that an Indian restaurant topped it up in The New York Times list; and (an Indian) who won the James Beard in American history. This was the first nomination, and we won the first time itself.”
Once judged for what was on his plate, this globally known chef’s recipes are challenging those encountered perceptions on social status, caste, class, and religion. He proudly says, “It’s the same food that I’m cooking in Manhattan, which is one of the culinary capitals of the world, and people are loving it.”
While he wanted to chase his dreams, he was ashamed to disclose to his peers about choosing the less-traveled path. But today, Vijay is constantly breaking stereotypes. Alluding to his school days, he shares, “All my parents wanted was to give me a better education. They tried hard to pay my fees.”
He says it was hard to explain to them what this award was about. His mother came to know about it because his neighbours were talking about it. “She was so emotional that she started crying,” he says. Vijay believes that this was the answer to why he had gone so far chasing his passion, carrying the teachings of his mother and grandmother from the kitchen.