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When is a stew more than a stew?
Photographed by Jess Feran
On timid cooks:“Chefs aren’t showing you every time their bread doesn’t rise.
Cooking isn’t necessarily intuitive.
you oughta practice.”
On food as a form of healing:“I don’t have the best childhood memories.
There’s a chapter in my cookbook called I Dont Know My Grandma,' because I don’t.
I used to feel so ashamed of it, not having a family special [food].
I could give a rat’s ass [now]….
Cooking is my coping mechanism.
It’s how I deal with pain.
The good moments I remember with my mom were with food.
Full transparency: All of the culinary work I do comes from a trauma space.
As a codependent person, I want to make people happy.
I want to feed folks.”
When I’m stressed or sad, it’s something to put my feelings into."
On giving back:“I take at least 60 percent of my income and redistribute it.
When I was a kid in foster care, I got one new pair of shoes every year.
I’m 33 years old and I’ve been wearing theseKedsmy whole life.
Lose money, lose time, lose resources.
That’s what real advocacy is about.”
On the power of scent:“My partner wearsVio-Volta by D.S.
& Durga, and I am obsessed with it.
It’s like electricity in a smell.
It smells like lightning.”
On washday:“I blow-dry about 50 percent of the way, and then useAveda Brilliant Retexturing Gel.
Let the record show, the back three or four inches of my head are shaved.
You’ve got to do the undercut.”
& Durga