At the Heart of Simmering Tava is Rajat Damani and his mother Tara Damani.

Tara grew up in Calcutta, India and is known among friends, family and community for her addictive cooking.  She is very often requested to make her signature recipes of 'Bhel/Papri Chat and Masala Muri" whether she is hosting or visiting friends and family. She grew up in a city that is popular for the variety of Indian cuisines available and her recipes are a varied collection from her mother's cooking (her mother Hiraben was a most excellent cook and she was very well traveled), her experiences of the street foods of Calcutta, her multicultural friends (India is a country of many cultures and cuisines densely packed together) and her natural ability to create new dishes from observations and inspirations 

Having grown up eating very wholesome, perfectly spiced and eclectic meals that Tara made, Rajat very quickly realized that he missed that immensely when he moved to Georgia, USA for University from Calcutta, India. His attempts to recreate the food he missed, he started to play in the kitchen himself often calling home for recipes and ideas. Since then he decided he was most interested in food and followed his passion and has worked at many excellent restaurants, catering companies and at a specialty food distributorship. This journey has allowed him to be exposed to an amazing variety of cuisines and cultures that fed is very curious nature.