Actor Tiya Sircar shares stories from her recent travels in Peru, what she checked off of her bucket list and the most incredible food she experienced.
Actor Tiya Sircar shares stories from her recent travels in Peru, what she checked off of her bucket list and the most incredible food she experienced. Tiya talks about her family’s uplifting Diwali celebrations and how her Indian heritage shaped her perspective as a kid growing up in Texas. She describes her journey to becoming a performer and how Indian representation in the entertainment industry has evolved over the course of her career. Tiya reveals what it was like on set filming the discovery+ holiday movie, A Gingerbread Christmas, and what elements of her character required a little extra research. She talks about working with pastry icon Duff Goldman and what makes this project special to her.
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Learn More About A Gingerbread Christmas: https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/a-gingerbread-christmas-us
Find episode transcripts here: https://food-network-obsessed.simplecast.com/episodes/tiya-sircar-on-beloved-bengali-meals-main-character-moments
Jaymee Sire:
Hello, hello, and welcome to Food Network Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things food with your favorite chefs, food influencers, and food network stars. I'm your host, Jamie Sere, and today we have the newest star of the Food Network holiday movie on the podcast to talk about her Indian American heritage representation in the industry and what it was like to work on set with Duff Goldman. But just a quick note before we get to our guest. We will be taking a small break over the holidays, but we'll be back with new episodes on January 13th. All right. She is an actor and advocate known for her roles in the Good Place, and now a gingerbread Christmas on Discovery Plus, it's Tia Skar. Tia, welcome to the podcast. How are you today?
Tiya Sircar:
I'm doing so well, thank you. Thanks for having me on. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire:
We are so excited to have you on and pumped to talk about your acting career and of course, your latest film. But first, I must ask about your recent travels because I saw you spent your Thanksgiving in Peru, which is such an incredible country. How did this trip come about?
Tiya Sircar:
I, I actually just got back yesterday, so Oh, wow. Yes it was amazing. I how did it come about? I had a few days off, like, you know, obviously Thanksgiving break, and I thought, where can I go that doesn't require like a really, really long flight, like crossing an ocean mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
Oh my gosh. I'm not just saying this because this is a Food Network podcast, but honestly, food was a big,
Jaymee Sire:
So good
Tiya Sircar:
Jaymee Sire:
All good things. I couldn't agree more. I I actually went there after I got laid off from S P N and a few years ago, and it was, I mean, people say it's life changing, but it's, it's true. It, it really does take your breath away. It is stunning, you know, in more ways than one, like you said. And, and definitely the food was a highlight as well. And as I mentioned, you were there over Thanksgiving. So what was your Thanksgiving Day meal like?
Tiya Sircar:
Yeah. My, my Thanksgiving Day meal was a little different than normal
Jaymee Sire:
I think I hate there.
Tiya Sircar:
Oh my God. It's like, si, it's on the square, like on the Plaza Dharma, and you're looking out at these amazing, it's like just a beautiful view, wonderful staff. And the food is like insane. So anyway, theres is, there's just happens to be breaded and fried.
Jaymee Sire:
Hmm. I'm even better. Yeah.
Tiya Sircar:
Kaza ceviche, obviously I ate like my weight in ceviche on this trip. Mm-Hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
Gosh, per, I mean, potentially that deep, you know, breaded and fried cow. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire:
I mean, that's,
Tiya Sircar:
You know what between that meal at Marinna, which was incredible, and we were in Lima and mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
You gotta have, you gotta have Pisco Sour when you're, I
Tiya Sircar:
Dr. I drank, I drank a few, but this one was by far the best and like, the best of Viche I've ever had. So good. Those are my, those are my Peru Ricks LA Leia and Lima and marina in Cusco. I have more, but we, this isn't a Peru podcast, so we'll save
Jaymee Sire:
That. I mean, we'll save that for another episode.
Tiya Sircar:
Well, most of our, I mean, we're Indian, so I'm, I'm Indian. My parents are from India. And you know, I, I'm sure this is not relegated to South Asians, but like our, most of our holidays are, you know, revolve around food and eating, cooking, eating sharing meals with family. And then Dalli specifically involves like lighting Dias, which are these like clay lamps. And you dip these like well, we used cotton balls. I don't know what it sa I don't know what they used back for a millennia
Jaymee Sire:
H how have you made those celebrations, you know, your own as an adult, you know, living away from home and, and, and trying to kind of keep those traditions alive?
Tiya Sircar:
Yeah, that's a good question. It's hard because I, I you know, I live far away from my family, unfortunately. I, like, I see them as much as I can. You know, we all mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. No, I mean, I think all of us can relate to that for sure. You know, you mentioned your, your parents are from Calcutta. What, what do you remember about growing up you know, your childhood and, and their, their culture and their traditions that they were, you know, trying to teach to you, but also, you know, obviously assimilate to, to your life in Texas as well?
Tiya Sircar:
Yeah, I mean, I feel really fortunate. I feel like super lucky that I, I feel like I can say I am, I am fully holy, holy
Like, I, I have one sister, one older sister, and we grew up so far from our family. It was just, you know, our nuclear family in Texas. Mm-Hmm.
I hear them the same way. And then when it comes to like actually responding in Bengali, it takes me a little longer.
Jaymee Sire:
I love that. What about food growing up? Like, what was typical in your household? Was it very traditionally Indian, or was it like, you just kind of mentioned like a mixture of all of these wonderful things?
Tiya Sircar:
I have to say, I mentioned feeling fortunate. I am so lucky my mom. I know, I know a lot of people are like, oh, my mom's a great cook. My mom is like d like, like objectively an amazing, incredible like world-class cook. She cooks everything. She cooks incredible Bengali food. You know, growing up we ate all kinds of stuff. She would cook Chinese food, she'd cooked Mediterranean food, middle Eastern food, whatever we consider you know, American food western food, we, we ate everything, man. She, she's such an amazing cook. And I don't think I properly appreciated it until I got older and moved out on my own and had to make my own food. And I was like, oh. So I've just been eating like this re really, really delicious, like, excellent food my whole life. And I didn't know that wasn't normal. That's just not like a normal thing for everyone. So, yeah. So I lucky enough to sort of, you know, we ate all kinds of cuisines and my mom's Bengali food specifically is just like amazing. And I wish I lived closer to her food,
Jaymee Sire:
What, what, what's your favorite thing that she makes?
Tiya Sircar:
Oh my gosh. That is really hard to narrow down cuz she makes like so many amazing dishes. But I'll be, okay. So, so one, so Bengali food, we eat a, like a wide variety of all kinds of vegetables, but we're very Calcutta. The Bengal is on the Bay of Bengal and it's on, like the GS River runs through it. So we eat a ton of freshwater fish. We eat fish. Bengalis are sort of known for eating f like tons of fish. So we eat okay, freshwater fish. We eat seafood, which I love. It's probably like genetic. I'm, I'm genetically predisposed to loving seafood.
Jaymee Sire:
It's a loving seafood.
Tiya Sircar:
But my mom makes something, I don't know what to call it in English, but I guess I call in my family, we call it mustard shrimp. What sounds, sounds gross, but
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
Oh
Jaymee Sire:
My God. So what is that about
Tiya Sircar:
I mean there's like, the only thing I'm, I'm literally from Arlington, Texas, which is legit. Yeah. Where are the Cowboys play? Yeah, it's it's not Okay. I know it and my friends in Texas are like, how, how has this happened to you? Like, what went wrong? It's a long story. I don't know how this happened. I mean, I do know how it happened.
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
Early, like early early two thousands. So it was it's not like I jumped on the bandwagon when they won that super, the first Super Bowl that they won against the Patriots. I was already a legitimate fan. But you know, that relationship may have ended, but my relationship with the Giants never has
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
Absolutely.
Jaymee Sire:
So we'll do that. Well, we don't get, you know, a lot of actors on the show, so I am interested to, to dive into how you got into the industry. What was the moment where you kind of felt this spark in terms of performing and, and kind of loving that?
Tiya Sircar:
Great question. By the way. I also never get to do podcast or interviews about food. So I'm thrilled.
And I still, to this day, I, you know, half my friends from college are like theater, you know, like, like artsy fary types. And then the other half are all like hedge fund analysts and investment bankers. And I have no idea what they do. And we took the same classes. I don't know what happened
Jaymee Sire:
Your parents supportive or skeptical about this acting career choice
Tiya Sircar:
And I don't think that either of them had any issue with like, the, my, my craft, like the craft of acting. I think, you know, especially for my dad who is like a tip like, like just very risk averse. I think the, the issue was like just this idea that like, I still think, you know, he still can't imagine like, doesn't, cannot compute that. Like, I never know what my next job's gonna be or when or where. And like, I think that was the most distressing thing to them was just like the sort of instability or sort of unpredictability of my business. And you know, my dad, my dad is a, he's an engineer. He's a, he's a professor, like, like a business professor. And so it's like A plus B has to equal C, if you're the best basketball player in the world, you're gonna go and play in the N B A. And you know, that's, that's that. But that's not really how my business works,
Jaymee Sire:
Normal job with benefits and Correct, you know, in
Tiya Sircar:
A 401k. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire:
All those nice things.
Tiya Sircar:
Exactly.
Jaymee Sire:
Give up when you pursue that, that avenue. You know, Michelle Obama once said, you, you can't be what you can't see. I'm curious if you struggled to find representation in the entertainment industry while you were growing up and, and having these aspirations to pursue acting.
Tiya Sircar:
Yes. great question. Yeah. I mean, I, I, you know, was born and raised in Texas. I watched a lot of television and movies when I was a kid. I mean, my whole life and mm-hmm.
And so that probably was part of what drove me to do what I am doing, and I am happy to report that. I think that that's definitely changing. The, the landscape is changing, but I still think we have a long way to go. But even in the time that I've been working in this industry, like from the, the types of roles that were available to me when I first started working till now, I mean, there's been a, a huge shift. And you know, you've got shows like the Mindy Project and then Mindy Kaling shows like, never have I Ever, which, you know, f you know, like features, not just one, not two, not, but, but three South Asian women leads of that show. I mean, that's, that would've been sort of unthinkable to mm-hmm. 15 year old me. But how wonderful for teenage, you know, like young kids that get to see that on their TV screens. I am envious, but I'm also thrilled that there's that sort of change is taking place and progress is being made. But of course, there's a long way to go.
Jaymee Sire:
Always. Yeah. I mean, but how does it feel knowing that perhaps, you know, now you are one of those people for these girls that are, are, are watching on TV and seeing somebody that looks like them?
Tiya Sircar:
Gosh, I guess I don't think about it that way,
I was like, wait, how old, how old were you when you were a child?
Jaymee Sire:
You're like a minute
Tiya Sircar:
Jaymee Sire:
Absolutely. Ha. Has there been a moment when you've kind of been able to pause and felt like you've made it, you know, like truly like, like fulfilled your, your dream that you had as, you know, a teenager?
Tiya Sircar:
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. No, I think, I mean, like, like you said, I think some of it has to do with like, you know, having to be wired that way in order to continue to kind of slug it out, you know, it's a, an entertainment industry is not for the faint part for sure. But yeah, you, I think everyone's hard on themselves too, and you want, you know, the next big thing is it, and then the next thing after that, and there's al there's no end to it, right?
Tiya Sircar:
Like, there's no end. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire:
When we come back. Tia tells us about her holiday movie, a gingerbread Christmas streaming now on Discovery, plus your latest movie, A Gingerbread Christmas is fabulous. I watched it the other night. We love a holiday movie, especially when it involves, you know, a bakery that needs saving a big city girl. Of course, you have to have a love story. Like, of course that's non-negotiable.
Tiya Sircar:
I loved it. I don't think I've ever eaten so much in one movie in my life. And yeah, it was lovely. I clearly, if you can't tell by now, I love food and I love to eat. And so it was like a win-win for me.
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
Know, she is dealing with loss. I don't, I don't know. I don't wanna give any like spoil, it's not like a spoiler kind of movie, but sure. You know, she's dealing with personal loss that's quite recent. And so and actually, so I, I mean, I don't think I'm giving anything away here, but her mother, her mother passed away recently and she hasn't been home since, because it's too, it's too difficult. And they, they asked if I could, if I could use my own photos of my own actual mother in the film, and I was gonna ask her permission. And then I thought, you know what? First of all, she's probably going to Sure. She'll say yes, and maybe it'll be like a neat surprise. So she actually didn't know that, you know, photos of us when and when I'm little make an appearance in the movie. And so, yeah. Afterwards my dad like, called after they watched it and was like, well, that was, that was a such a pleasant surprise anyway. Oh. So it, you know, having like, you know, our house Hazel and her dad's house has like, photos of baby tea, like baby me with my own actual mom, like all over it. And so it wasn't that hard to sort of put myself in that place. Yeah. Just thinking, you know, it was, it wasn't like it, it was sort of easy to draw upon those emotions when I'm like looking at pictures of my mom, my actual mom. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire:
You kind of feel at home a little bit. Yeah.
Tiya Sircar:
Yeah. Yeah. and so, yeah. And then, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't so hard to like get into the holiday spirit when there was like, delicious baked goods everywhere you looked,
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
That is, yeah. Yeah. That is, I would say more often than not, the things you have to eat, like for 37 takes are not things that you want to eat
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
Let me, yeah. I'll be the first to tell you that. That was a, that was great news for me.
Jaymee Sire:
Well, speaking of Food Network, how was it working with the Ace of Cakes himself? Duff Goldman.
Tiya Sircar:
Oh my gosh, he's such a peach. I, I, you know, he wasn't on set for too long. He mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Is there anything special about this movie that you're particularly like proud of?
Tiya Sircar:
Yes. I love Christmas movies, and I feel like our Christmas, this a gingerbread Christmas has, you know, the things that you want to see in a Christmas movie. It has you know, family, it has a budding romance and a hunky dude in it,
And she enters the competition with a gingerbread mosque that, you know, is a mosque that was very dear to her when, you know, in her hometown where she's from in Iran. And so, I don't know, it's just sort of like, feels representative of what, I don't know, what, what America really does look like mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. And, and, and like we spoke about earlier, not the, not the holiday movie that you grew up watching, you know, this is definitely more representative
Tiya Sircar:
Yeah.
Jaymee Sire:
Of all people who like to watch holiday movie
Tiya Sircar:
Today. Totally.
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. Exactly. all right, well, big question then. Could you hold your own in an actual gingerbread house competition?
Tiya Sircar:
Here's the thing. I love to cook and I, I, you know, I don't suck at it. I feel like I can say mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Exact
Tiya Sircar:
Rigid for me.
Jaymee Sire:
Right. So you, you are not the architect that you No. That you play in the movie
Tiya Sircar:
Jaymee Sire:
All right. Well, I hope everybody watches a gingerbread Christmas. It is a delight and a a nice twist on, on the traditional holiday movie. We're gonna finish things off with a little rapid fire round, and then we have one final question for you. All right. So, favorite Food Network show.
Tiya Sircar:
When I first moved to LA I knew nobody, I had no family here. I was like, just showed up one day all by myself,
Jaymee Sire:
How Power Hour right there, 12
Tiya Sircar:
To one, I would, well, I would spend my af my early afternoon with Giada and Iner Garden. And that was like, that's how I spent
Jaymee Sire:
My, I mean, that's a great afternoon in, in anyone's book, you know,
Tiya Sircar:
It was great. They, they were, they kept me company when I was sort of a sad little lonely brand new Angelo that didn't know anyone yet, and didn't, hadn't started working and meeting people. And so I would just spend, so yeah, Jetta Dees and in Garden got me through a little, a little rough patch when I first moved
Jaymee Sire:
Here.
Tiya Sircar:
Oh man. I am gonna pick two. One is Vicky from The Good Place because mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
All right. You're invited to a potluck dinner. What are you bringing? Oh,
Tiya Sircar:
Good question. Okay. If it is fall or winter, if it's cold outside, I have a recipe that I always make that sounds kind of crazy to some people, but it's actually so delicious. It's like a pasta dish with spicy Italian sausage and pumpkin puree and Okay. Cream and Parmesan cheese and sage and it's just like, so, and a lot of crush red pepper flakes and it's
Jaymee Sire:
Like fall, fall in a,
Tiya Sircar:
In a dish. It's a tum. Yeah. It's like, it's, it's comforting, but it's also kind of just like a little twist cuz you've got the pumpkin puree instead of like, you know, like a heavy cream sauce. Mm-Hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Ous
Tiya Sircar:
Talking about corn. Okay. Just for the record,
Jaymee Sire:
Delicious. The crowd pleaser Yes. TV show that you're loving right now.
Tiya Sircar:
Oh gosh. Okay. I did, I recently binged the Bear yes.
Jaymee Sire:
Whole show
Tiya Sircar:
It's so good. It's so good. And of course, that's also food centric. And what else am I watching? Oh, I'm watching the White Lotus season two right now, which, you know, is set in Sicily, which I wanna go to so badly. It's so high on my list. And I, you know, of course, like another place that I just wanna like, eat my way through that co that, that place
Jaymee Sire:
I need to watch season two. I watch season one, but I have not.
Tiya Sircar:
Season two is good. Okay. I'm, I'm, I'm not totally caught up yet cuz I've been in Peru, but I'm I plan to get caught up soon.
Jaymee Sire:
All right. Best and worst parts of your job?
Tiya Sircar:
Oh, well, the best part of my job is that it's my literal dream job and I get to actually do it, which is sort of hard to even believe. Sometimes
So you're doing the thing that the only thing you wanna do in life for, is it, oh, are you uncomfortable? Has it been too long? Like you've been sitting in your trailer for too long? Like every time that there's something that maybe I get like a little sort of frustrated by if I'm like, they called me in at 5:00 AM and I, it's, it's now 1:00 PM and I haven't even worked yet and they didn't need to. I'm like, Tia, take it. Take a step back and, and consider that you're still here and you're still doing it. What is, what are you really upset about? Yeah. And so I just have to kind of give, make, you know, put things into perspective. Yeah. I don't, I, I can't complain.
Jaymee Sire:
How would your friends describe you in one word?
Tiya Sircar:
Oh my gosh. Have you noticed that? I don't use one word for anything. One word. Hopefully, I don't know. I, I hope kind, I mean content.
Jaymee Sire:
That's a good word. Yeah. And
Tiya Sircar:
Maybe adventurous. Okay. I'd like, I, I'd like to ho I, I'd like to think you'd like two words. You think that about me,
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
Oh gosh. I mean, my family, like getting to be with my loved ones wherever we are. Whether it's like visiting, visiting each other where we live, or going off somewhere far away and going on an adventure together. Just like, spending time with my family and cooking, eating
Jaymee Sire:
Hmm. I love that. All right. So the final question is not rapid fire. It is, we wanna know. Good.
Tiya Sircar:
Cause I have made none of them rapid fire
Jaymee Sire:
Sometimes. That's okay. It's okay.
Tiya Sircar:
Oh gosh. Well, clearly
Jaymee Sire:
Like savor, like a table French toast. Yeah.
Tiya Sircar:
Yeah. A table. French toast. Yeah, a french toast for the table. But it was, I mean, there it's just like massive spread. There's like n like Indonesian food, there's like a whole section of noodles. There's brunch thing, you know what we could like eggs and all that stuff. Then there's like a sushi section. Wow. Yeah. Sushi for Yeah, sure. Give me some. Yeah. And then I had never had this before. It's maybe you know, it, it's called Kaya Toast, which Kaya, I guess is like a, Hmm. Forgive me if anyone's listening and I'm wrong, but it's like a sort of coconut paste kind of thing. Okay. And it's you put it on this like brioche bread toast and like there can be like a fried egg on top. Okay. And it's like a little bit sweet, a little bit savory and Oh my God. Oh my god.
Jaymee Sire:
Just like
Tiya Sircar:
So good. Just like the most delicious food there. Have you had the toads?
Jaymee Sire:
Yes. The tuna.
Tiya Sircar:
Oh my God. There's
Jaymee Sire:
Like thing you have to
Tiya Sircar:
Get. Yeah. The tuna toasts and then off menu you can actually ask for them to split your tuna toad order in half and do half tuna toast. Half crap toast. Ooh. So for the next time you're there. Okay.
Jaymee Sire:
A little inside.
Tiya Sircar:
Highly recommend.
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. Yeah. I love that
Tiya Sircar:
So yeah, like lunch at Contra Mar and then dinner. Gosh. this is hard for me cuz I just love food.
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
I'm gonna throw some Texas barbecue in there. Of course. Cuz you know, I have to, I would say Austin either. Yes. Franklins of course. But LA Barbecue. I love
Jaymee Sire:
LA
Tiya Sircar:
Barbecue. La Barbecue is the best
Jaymee Sire:
It's woman owned too. I know.
Tiya Sircar:
Yeah. And and maybe I'll, I'll throw Terry Blacks in there as well. Okay. Oh, and since we're talking about Austin my favorite restaurant, UCI or UCI co their sister restaurant sushi, Japanese food, but like very sort of unusual dishes. Okay. I'm gonna stop because I feel like I could just keep going.
Jaymee Sire:
Oh, I love it.
Tiya Sircar:
You said I could go
Jaymee Sire:
Anywhere. I know, like, I know I said there's no rules.
Tiya Sircar:
My brain is like all over the place. And then dessert. Gosh, what's the about? I can't, well now my brain can't think of a great dessert. Something with chocolate, something, it doesn't even have to be chocolate. I, I just love dessert in general. That's not really helpful. Is it
Jaymee Sire:
We could have like a dessert. Yeah, like a dessert buffet or something.
Tiya Sircar:
Yeah. Maybe like a Jose, you know maybe a Jose Andres dessert. Okay. I've never been disappointed eating dessert at any of his restaurants that I've been to, so that's not very specific, but
Jaymee Sire:
That's
Tiya Sircar:
All right. That's my answer.
Jaymee Sire:
You don't know where, you don't know what you're gonna be feeling after you ate all of that food. So It's true. You know what you're gonna be in the mood for. It's, it's true. I think believing your options open is is the way to go. For
Tiya Sircar:
Sure. Yeah. I don't wanna paint myself into a corner
Jaymee Sire:
Tiya Sircar:
Thank you so much. Happy holidays.
Jaymee Sire:
Happy holidays once again. I encourage everyone to stream all of the new Discovery plus original holiday movies. They just make you all warm and fuzzy inside. And make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please rate and review. We love it when you do that. That's all for now. We'll catch you foodies after the holidays. We'll be back with new episodes on January 13th.