Anita Chhiba Championing S Asian Cool

In recent years, there has been a rise in Instagram accounts designed to uplift and inspire marginalised communities, and through these online platforms, such as Diet Paratha, British Vogue’s Parveen Narowalia is starting to reconnect with her South Asian identity. She interviews the founder of the platform, New Zealand-born Anita Chhiba.

Established in 2017, London-based Diet Paratha celebrates the best of South Asian talent, particularly South Asian creatives. The name Diet Paratha (paratha, meaning Indian flatbread) is of course a play on Diet Prada, but this Instagram feed is about celebrating people, not cancelling them, Narowalia writes.

Chhiba was inspired to start the project because of the glaring lack of South Asian perspective in Western media. “SA people are still fighting to be seen in creative spaces, and there isn’t a lot of perception around being ‘cool’ – I feel like Diet Paratha definitely helps shift the perspective,” she says. Navigating race has been a constant journey for Chhiba.

Original article by Parveen Narowalia, British Vogue, September 12, 2021.

Photo by Parveen Narowalia.