FSR May 2022

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pline and practice,” she says. “You go through the highs and the lows, trying to not take either too seriously.” When she wasn’t working, Kumar spent her free time on tour obsessively reading cookbooks. Revered tomes like Jacques Pépin’s La Technique helped her develop an understanding of food in place of traditional instruction. “I really loved Deborah Madison’s Veg etarian Cooking for Everyone ,” she says.

lina trout is a prime example of Kumar’s affinity for local ingredients brought to life with international flavors. The crispy fish entrée is paired with a fennel-apple cabbage Desi slaw, paanch phoran (a spice blend), confit tomato, cilantro, dill, red onion, and lime. Cooking is only part of Kumar’s work these days. The rock star–turned–chef has also been busy advocating for restau rants. She sits on several boards, includ

“The way she approached vegetables and legumes gave me a lot of explanation on the roles of ingredients.” Along with insight, Kumar’s voracious appetite for cookbooks instilled a curiosity around the history of food. She noticed culi nary parallels between her hometown and the Ameri

ing the Independent Restau rant Solution, where she has worked to secure grants and other funding so indepen dent restaurants can keep their doors open through out the pandemic. She says the driving fac tor behind her advocacy work is a belief that every one in the industry is fac

“It’s not easy to be a chef anywhere, but it is easy to be inspired here.”

can South, not only in their respective abundance of fresh produce and markets, but also how they’ve changed over time. “I started thinking about the history of people moving and traveling and immi grating and how the food evolved from there,” she says. “I was inspired by it. … I think that’s why I felt so connected here.” Armed with knowledge and a new found curiosity, Kumar and her husband decided to make the leap. The brick-and mortar Garland opened in 2014 after briefly operating as a walk-up window the previous fall. The restaurant spe cializes in blending flavors from across Asia, particularly the Indian subconti nent, and applying them to the plethora of local ingredients sourced from North Carolina’s many farms. At first, she says, it was hard to describe the type of cuisine the restau rant served, but now she simply tells peo ple that she “cooks what she likes, and it’s coming from the farm.” The availability of local meats and produce, like purple-top turnips, mus tard greens, and eggplants, reminded her of the markets in her hometown. It was also one of the reasons she fell in love with Raleigh. “It was access to the farm ers that made it make sense,” she says. Garland’s whole-fried North Caro

ing similar challenges. Working together as a united front is more likely to elicit change than solitary efforts. “If you think you’re doing this all alone, you aren’t seeing the whole pic ture,” she says. “We are all interdepen dent on each other, 100 percent.” The camaraderie in the Raleigh cook ing scene is something Kumar greatly appreciates. It’s also why she thinks Raleigh and the surrounding areas are great places for chefs looking to set up shop—not to mention the bevy of locally sourced ingredients. “If you look at the [James] Beard list from the last several years, it’s domi nated by chefs from North Carolina,” she says. “It’s not easy to be a chef any where, but it is easy to be inspired here.” Kumar has several projects in the works, including product launches and a “small, new concept,” but for now, she’s keeping those details close to the chest. In the meantime, she would like to find time to pick up her guitar again and maybe even go on a few trips. Work at the restaurant has been grueling over the last few years that she’s had hardly any time to do anything else. “I’m just dying to have some more time to play music and hopefully travel,” she says.

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