Food Network star leads teaching kitchen, judges Battle of the Chefs
Chef Aarti Sequeira traveled about an hour from her home in Raleigh to appear at UNC Greensboro on March 3. She also brought culinary inspiration from faraway lands: India and the Middle East, blended with American influences.
Sequeira worked as a producer at CNN until 2003 before beginning her career in food television. Her first foray was on YouTube, where she perfected both her cooking techniques and on-camera persona in the first version of her show, “Aarti Paarti,” a name that has followed her since then.
“It was before YouTube had ads,” she told the assembled crew of students at the Fountain View Dining Hall Teaching Kitchen. “Can you believe that?”
They could not.
In 2010 she became a contestant on the TV show “The Next Food Network Star,” and she won. She tells the students that winning the show helped launch her television career — and ultimately brought her to the UNCG campus to teach this cooking class and to judge Spartan Dining’s Spring 2026 Battle of the Chefs alongside Greensboro Mayor Marikay Abuzuaiter and UNCG Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr.
“It’s such a cool opportunity to talk about food. I will talk to anybody about Indian flavors and spices and dishes because I’m just so passionate about it,” she says.
“When I was growing up, Indian food was seen as something that you only ate when you had a hangover, or the kind of thing that you only got as a buffet, and you ate as much as you could,” she says. “I spent so much of my life shaving off the edges of Indian culture and trying to make myself fit. So I am so grateful to be in this position, where I had the first Indian cooking show on the Food Network.”
In the teaching kitchen
The hot plate is warming while old clips of the Food Network version of “Aarti Paarti” play on a TV screen mounted to the wall behind her.
She’s here today, she tells them, to give a crash course in how to make a tomato chutney, pronouncing it “to-mah-toe” in her light British lilt. “Once you start making chutney,” she says, “people will think you are really fancy.”
Though it sounds highbrow, Sequeira explains that chutney is a staple in Indian cuisine, coming in many forms. And it’s not unique to that part of the world. Ketchup, she says, is a form of chutney.
The lessons continue as she expounds on the three kinds of mustard seeds and why we heat the oil before adding spices directly to it. “Spices are the introverts,” she explains. “They take a little more time and attention.” Then come the aromatics: onion, garlic, and ginger — the Indian trinity, she calls it. She extolls the virtues of black pepper, noting that at one time it was more expensive than gold.
When the flavors start to come out, she tilts the pot toward the audience so they can smell it, then catches a glimpse of her younger self on the TV screen.
“That was my favorite dress!” she says, gesturing to the old footage. “It was from Costco, you guys.”
After the chutney bubbles to completion, she serves it to the students with grilled cheese sandwiches.
“And that,” she says, “is baby’s first chutney.”
The Battle of the Chefs
The afternoon battle pits UNCG Police against UNCG Athletics and the Office of Student Affairs, with heavyweight competitors including Police Chief Chris Jasso, Director of Athletics Brian Mackin, and Executive Director for Housing and Student Life Tim Johnson.
Chancellor Gilliam said the event captured what makes UNCG unique. “What I love about tonight is that it reflects the richness of who we are at UNCG — a community that celebrates different cultures, traditions, and flavors,” he said. “Having Chef Aarti here to share her heritage through food is exactly the kind of experience we want our students to have.”
More students arrive in the Fountain View Dining Hall as each team prepares three dishes under the theme of Elevated Tailgate Food, with the assistance of a chef mentor from Spartan Dining. Spartan Dining donated one meal to the UNCG Safe Food Fund for every attendee.
“Battle of the Chefs is about more than cooking,” said Des St. Cyr, Marketing Manager for Spartan Dining. “It’s an opportunity to bring together campus departments, UNCG students, and the greater Greensboro community in a fun and engaging way that celebrates creativity, connection, and school spirit.”
In the end, the UNCG Police emerged victorious under the tutelage of Spartan Dining Campus Executive Chef Darelle Bey. The team prepared an appetizer of prosciutto-wrapped jalapeño poppers stuffed with brie, a grilled ribeye sandwich entrée with chimichurri, and smashed lemon potatoes. People continued to talk about their dessert, a caramel-apple cheesecake eggroll, for days.
Story by Brian Clarey, University Communications
Photos by Sean Norona, University Communications
