Aarti Sequeira on Halloween Baking Championship and Finding Her Voice

Jaymee Sire (0:02)

Hello, hello, and welcome to Food Network Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things food with your favorite chefs, food creators, and Food Network stars. I'm your host, Jaymee Sire, and today we have a guest returning after five years who is now joining the Halloween Baking Championship judges panel. It's chef Aarti Sequeira.

Aarti, welcome back to Food Network Obsessed. It has been five long years without your voice.

Aarti Sequeira (0:29)

Too long. I felt it, you felt it, everybody felt it.

Jaymee Sire (0:33)

We all did.

We are rectifying it now, because a lot has happened in five years. So I'm going to kick things off with a bit of a loaded question. Who is Aarti Sequeira now in 2026 compared to the Aarti we spoke with back in 2021?

Aarti Sequeira (0:50)

My gosh, where were you at the beginning of the year when I was vision boarding and asking myself this very question? Jaymee, you and I have an appointment on January 2nd of 2027

Jaymee Sire (1:02)

I'm in.

Aarti Sequeira (1:04)

Gosh, what's different these days? I think in some ways things are the same in terms of constantly feeling like I need to challenge myself, push myself, do things that are difficult and scary and intimidating, namely, top of my head is doing TOC for the first time. I won't ever get over that.

And then in others, I think there's just sort of a, what am I doing now? How can I serve the people now? And I'm not saying that in a sort of fake inflated kind of way. I really am sort of looking at the landscape of food and entertainment and content creation and going, what do I have that can help people in their daily lives now? And I'm literally in the middle of trying to figure that out, honestly.

Jaymee Sire (1:56)

I feel like that that's like an ever evolving thing throughout our lives. We're always trying to figure out the answer to that question. But I do feel like no matter what life throws your way, you've always had this mantra of be brave.

And I'm so curious, because it is such a constant through line for you, when did that start and how does that factor into your everyday life?

Aarti Sequeira (2:22)

I don't think that it really felt like something I needed to channel until I got the invitation to Food Network Star. I mean, that was 1,000 percent outside of my comfort zone. And I think somewhere in my head, I mean, I was in the tender age of 30-something when I did that show. And I think somewhere in my head, I said, oh, you just have to be brave like 1 or 2 times in your life, and then you're done. And then you just coast, right? And I think literally this week, I made the realization that no, that is not the truth of existence. It is a constant recalibration, a constant like, oh, if I'm feeling comfortable, then I'm probably not pushing myself. You know what I mean? And if I'm not being asked to do frightening things, if I'm not pushing myself to do frightening things, then I'm not growing and I'm not expanding and I'm not living up to my fullest potential. And that's my greatest fear, is to sort of arrive at the pearly gates and feel like I haven't expended every drop of potential that the good Lord put in me. And so I'm constantly like, okay, what can I be doing now? While simultaneously being like, why is this so hard?

But I will say, I think the Aarti of five years ago was maybe a little less confident in her cooking abilities than the Aarti now. You know what I mean? And I think the Aarti back then was trying to figure out whether one of the main pillars I think of things that people know me for is my faith. And I think I was nervous about it back then. And then I ended up writing an entire cookbook that was grounded in faith. And so I think feeling just a little more confident in like, okay, I'm 48, all right? Let's like be confident about who you are and just lean into it. And there's going to be, you know, I'm not vanilla ice cream. I'm not going to freeze everybody.

And I don't like vanilla ice cream. Sorry, people, I think it's boring. So, you know, this is just, you know, getting used to not being everybody's cup of tea is, I think, kind of the thing I'm probably being pushed into accepting these days.

Jaymee Sire (4:43)

Yeah, and I would love to talk a little bit more about that cookbook you referenced because I would say, I definitely noticed that about you. Like you've always been somebody that leads with their faith, but I feel like you've become, like you said, a little bit more confident in expressing those beliefs over the last few years. So you released this cookbook, Unwind, a devotional cookbook for The Harried and Hungry, combining 50 recipes and 50 devotions.