"I work to blend family, food and storytelling in a way that touches people and reminds them of where they came from." • Chef Vivian Howard
I have always been wildly excited about food and it’s continuously been a part of my life. From celebrating success over a meal with dear friends to cooking with family for long hours in the kitchen, joy has always been directly connected to food.
No matter where my career has taken me, from acting to wedding hair dressing to working in the corporate retail world, cooking is the one thing that has been consistent throughout. Cooking or creating food and flavors is so similar to the creative performance world. This thing that you are creating will be gone and the only record of it will be in your mind. No two performances are ever the same just like no two dishes (even when created from a recipe) will ever taste exactly the same. There is something so fleeting about that. It’s a moment in time that can never be recreated and is only carried on in the memory or the auditors or dinners.
Food and memory are so tightly entwined for me that I have very few memories that are not connected to a specific meal or dish. And every memory, every experience I have had with food has shaped me into the chef I am today and most likely what I will become. “You’re whole life is just about budding reference points and at some point you say, well let me take all these references and combine them and see what comes out of my fingers.” Chef Ed Lee is a genius, right?
So what has influenced me and my ‘chef’ voice? First my parents, obviously. My mother, who grew up poor on a farm and therefore made us fried dough and Johnny Bread for dinner often when I was a kids. My father, who’s rich German roots showed up in some of my favorite childhood dishes like Stroganoff and Goulash. Both my parents made the kitchen a place to commune, celebrate and show love.
The other major influence? My other great love, television. After college, I started watching the Food Network religiously; some might say obsessively. I'm not proud of this but those early days it was Rachel Ray and Sara’s Week Night Meals. Then it matured into the cooking competition shows like Master Chef and Top Chef. But now, Netflix had changed the game when it comes to ways to learn about food, ingredients, culture and chefs around the world. With every cooking or food related show I consume, I become more and more obsessed with learning more, cooking more and trying things out that I have seen a REAL chef create. Isn't that what it’s all about? Find what you love and then learn as much as you can, create as much as you can, try-fail-repeat as much as you can!
My culinary story comes from every great dish I have ever tasted and vowed I would try to emulate, every food memory I have from my childhood that I cook to desperately make me feel the same way I did as a child, every single meal I make and want to make again but better. We are all a product of the combination of our own experiences and what we choose consume. What are mouths consume, our minds consume and our hearts consume.
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