Discover the heart of home cooking with Chef Toya Boudy as she shares insights from her inspiring book, "Cooking from Scratch." Explore the timeless wisdom of traditional recipes and learn how simple ingredients can transform into unforgettable meals.
Chef Toya delves into the history of cooking, drawing inspiration from early Black female cookbook authors like Melinda Russell. Her book revives not just recipes, but also a treasure trove of homemade remedies and wellness tips passed down through generations.
This conversation also touches on profound personal journeys. Chef Toya opens up about navigating life's challenges, including divorce and family health crises, highlighting the resilience and strength found in community and self-care.
Join us for a candid discussion that celebrates heritage, culinary traditions, and the empowering practice of cooking from scratch.
#ChefToya #CookingFromScratch #SouthernCooking #HomeRemedies
Chef Toya delves into the history of cooking, drawing inspiration from early Black female cookbook authors like Melinda Russell. Her book revives not just recipes, but also a treasure trove of homemade remedies and wellness tips passed down through generations.
This conversation also touches on profound personal journeys. Chef Toya opens up about navigating life's challenges, including divorce and family health crises, highlighting the resilience and strength found in community and self-care.
Join us for a candid discussion that celebrates heritage, culinary traditions, and the empowering practice of cooking from scratch.
#ChefToya #CookingFromScratch #SouthernCooking #HomeRemedies
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FunTranscript
00:01Hello. Oh, hello. It's me. And I'm back again. How y'all doing? Okay, great. We're going to have
00:08another wonderful conversation in just a second. If y'all want to join us in the great chairs.
00:15All right, let's get talking. Let's get to talking. Hold on. Get my notes together.
00:20Cooking from scratch. You see the book right here. Praise be. There's something special
00:26about recipes that begin with simple ingredients and become unforgettable meals. They remind us that
00:32some of the very best cooking doesn't come from shortcuts. It comes from patience, creativity,
00:38and generations of knowledge shared from one kitchen to the next. Our next guest has spent
00:44her career celebrating exactly that philosophy. Chef Toya Boudy is one of New Orleans' most beloved
00:52culinary personalities celebrated for her approachable style, infectious personality,
00:57and unwavering love for Louisiana cooking. As a cookbook author, television personality,
01:03recipe developer, and proud ambassador for New Orleans cuisine, she's inspired home cooks everywhere
01:08to embrace bold flavors with confidence. Now, whether she's sharing family traditions or
01:13introducing fresh twists on classic dishes, Chef Toya reminds us that great cooking begins with the heart.
01:21Please welcome Chef Toya for Cooking from Scratch. Give her a round of applause.
01:28Hey, ain't she fine? Victoria is joining her. You're going to ask her some delicious questions
01:33and give her some delicious answers. I can't wait to hear them.
01:36Amen, amen. Hello, everybody. How are we doing? Small but mighty. I love to see it. I'm Victoria
01:43Umarogi. I'm the senior director of editorial for Essence, and I'm very glad to be sitting here with Toya
01:49Bodie. Do you remember saying that right? Thank you. Okay, because yeah, I listen. I'm like,
01:53I know what it looks like, but I know it's Bodie. So yes, I had the honor of getting to
01:57meet her last
01:58year for the Food and Wine Festival where she kind of spoke when we were speaking on like the mocktail
02:02culture and things like that. And so to have the opportunity to be with you today to talk about
02:06cooking from scratch. Yeah. It's major. So you got to start by telling me what inspired this careful
02:12selection of useful recipes as cooking from scratch goes. Well, I came in contact with Melinda
02:19Russell's book. Melinda Russell is the first black woman known that released a cookbook in 1866.
02:26Now that cookbook, it was called the domestic cookbook. So that already intrigued me when I
02:33heard the word domestic because I thought, why not just say regular cookbook, right? But inside of the
02:37cookbook, I was blown away because it had like how to remove a corn off your feet, how to turn
02:44your hair
02:45back to the natural color. It had remedies. It had why you should keep your kitchen clean, you know, a
02:51whole bunch of different things. And I was like, man, you know, the timeframe that she did it, it was
02:56basically presenting itself as a village inside of a cookbook. And I thought, man, we need this for this
03:03day and time for our generation. And that's what made me go, go forward with it. I love that. Cause
03:08I was going to ask you too, about the fact that you have like remedies, I think about 20 remedies
03:13or so in your book to help people. Can you share some of the ones that are in there from
03:17cooking
03:17from scratch? Yes. I have the elixir. The elixir is a cough syrup. It's like a immunity builder.
03:24There's also cordials. Cordials are like old school remedies that they use alcohol. A lot of our elders,
03:30like you'll see the hot toddy and stuff like that. Like those were real things that they use
03:36because they couldn't afford like regular healthcare, you know? So, you know, I decided
03:42to go that route with remedies because I really wanted people to be able to heal themselves in
03:47multiple ways. I love that. I love that. And can you speak to the transformative chapter that you were
03:52in, in your life when you wrote this book? Oh man, y'all, I went through divorce, you know,
04:00we had to sell a house, get a new one, get acclimated. My ex-husband and I, gratefully,
04:05we communicate well and we still co-parent well. So helping him and the kids through that transition.
04:12And then my mother, our mother was fighting for her life with an aneurysm and brain bleeds and stuff
04:18like that and multiple brain surgeries and stuff. So we're like her home health team now,
04:24my sisters and I, even till this day, like I literally went, tended to her and did my portion
04:29of my weekly duties before I came here. Like that's how involved we are with her and, you know,
04:36on top of helping myself through it because divorce is not easy. Even if you know that's the best thing
04:42because, you know, a lot of times people think, oh, I'm going to stay together for the kids.
04:46Sometimes you need to split up for the kids because you don't want to, you don't want to grow old
04:52and
04:52then watch them go through those same predicaments. Cause they not, trust me, I got kids from my
04:58oldest is 27 and my youngest is eight, you know, and seeing that difference. I look at it and I
05:04think nothing hits harder than watching them go through what you accept, you know, and you want
05:11to teach, you want to teach the girls that, and you want to teach the boys that, you know? So
05:17I thought
05:18that was interesting. A lot of times we think about what the girl is seeing, but it's, what is that
05:22male
05:23seeing? Because he's going to grow up and be a father. He's going to grow up and be a mate
05:27or a
05:28spouse for someone, an employee. And you want to show him, hey, if you don't treat this right, then you
05:33might just lose it, baby. You know? So going through all of that stuff at the same time. And then
05:38on top
05:39of that, having the, you know, our publishing company, Countryman Press, I have so much creative
05:46freedom, girl. It's unreal. And they love me, but they were like, oh man, how's your mom?
05:52How's everything going? I'm sorry about that. Yeah. So can we get on a zoom and talk about this book?
05:58You know? So girl, those deadlines were still on me, you know? So all of that was happening at once.
06:06Got you. Got you. And I know that you are an ambassador for new Orleans. I know you love this
06:11city deep. I love it. I know you do. It's in my veins, girl. I know it. Look, my foot
06:16started
06:16wiggling. She got excited. Girl, I love my city. Yes. So inside of cooking from scratch, I know there
06:23are like dishes from even around the world, like just worldly inspired dishes. But what are some
06:27of the dishes that are rooted in this city that you grew up in that we can find in cooking
06:31from
06:32scratch that really make a difference to your like whole journey? Ah, crawfish pies. You know,
06:38I started out cooking in a corner store when I was 15. You know, when you go to corner stores
06:43in New Orleans, you don't just see, you know, uh, Debbie cakes and chips. You see fried chicken,
06:49you see po'boys, you see deli meat, you see hog head cheese, you see all kinds of stuff.
06:54So I was that person at 15 cooking for the corner store. So stuff like meat pies, crawfish
07:01pies is very important to me because it's like comfort food. Also girl, the white beans,
07:06the white, I love me some beans. You hear me? I mean, man, with a little bit of swine and
07:13it
07:14tastes mighty fine. Like, you know what I'm saying? So those are, uh, two of them. I did incorporate
07:20other cultures purposely because, you know, my last book cooking for the culture was really centered
07:26around, um, new Orleanian culture as a local, you know, and specifically, cause there are people
07:33who are from Louisiana, no hate, no shade, but Louisiana is not new Orleans, you know,
07:39it's the United States of new Orleans. So, so, uh, you know, when it comes to that, I wanted people
07:47to really embrace other cultures at the table. Okay. I love that. I love that. Can you also speak
07:55to the ancestors role in the creation of cooking from scratch? You spoke on Melinda Russell, but I
08:02know you did. Can you speak to everybody about the experience you just had on Juneteenth as well?
08:08Yeah. Okay. So at the Whitney plantation, um, they have a Juneteenth celebration, right? And I did not
08:17only my book release and book talk there, but they, I was also the first woman to cook in the
08:23formerly
08:24enslaved kitchen quarters on a plantation. The only other person was Michael Twitty and much like
08:32cooking with the culture where the cover is me gripping. If you've never seen my last book cover,
08:37it's me gripping watermelon, right? And with my fist and I'm squeezing it until the watermelon juice
08:44drops. And the reason why I did that is because I'm snatching that back because, you know, a long time
08:50ago, they called it nigger candy. So my thing is like, if we take the things that we were criticized
08:57with and stuff like that, and we take it and flip the narrative, it no longer produces pain on the
09:02inside. Right. So that same thing I did with that experience with the kitchen quarters, you know,
09:09the enslaved quarters, like when you look online and you see the footage and stuff like that of me, uh,
09:14weeping and holding the bowl up and speaking into the bowl and all those things and stuff like that,
09:21it's because I am worshiping and paying homage, you know, because it felt like literally I had
09:28ancestors fill in the kitchen, you know, because I realized, um, I realized that the cook on the
09:37plantation, you know, Dr. Sec, uh, he's one of the historians and, you know, directors at the Whitney
09:43plantation. He said that the cooks, the cooks on the plantation would get freedom first before a lot
09:50of people because they would make a deal with the master and say, I'm not gonna kill you. So my
09:55family
09:56has to be free after so many years. And I thought about that. I said, Oh my God, cooking has
10:02been
10:02giving me freedom all of this time. When I was 15 and I walked to the, I had to, oh
10:08y'all, I had a
10:08summer school habit. Okay. So I used to go to, I used to go to summer school every summer, y
10:14'all from
10:14six to 12. And my mama was like, because look, listen, what happens is I'm trying to explain it to
10:20you.
10:20Wait. So the reason why I did that is because I realized all year long, you go to class for
10:27nine
10:27months, right? But in summer school, guess what? You go to school for three months, you turn it
10:32homework every day. You don't pass one test. You get a D and you pass. So this means I get
10:37to skip
10:37class during school. You see the logic? It's strategic. You get to skip class, go sit in gym,
10:44be like, man, I didn't remember about that math class. You go sit in gym and you chill with your
10:48friends and then you go to summer school. And my mama said, you know what? This is ridiculous.
10:54Man, you know, I cater to her, man. I'm like, I really gave you a hard time.
10:58But, but she told me, she said, Toya, this is becoming a trend. So you, if you want to go
11:04to
11:04summer school this summer, you got to pay for summer school. So I went cook two plates of food
11:10at 15 and walked to a corner store. And that's how I got hired, you know, and that, you know,
11:15I use that to pay for summer school. That was buying a portion of my freedom, you know, with,
11:22when it comes down to me going through a divorce and having to provide for myself with just one
11:26income. What did I result back to? I created an ice cream business. So food was again, giving me my
11:34freedom. I started getting book deals. That's how I needed. That's how I got money to do things and
11:39move and do it. Food was giving me my freedom. So, yeah, I love that. And what does it mean
11:44to you to
11:45be able to have these knowing the story of Melinda Russell and knowing all of the ancestors and
11:50being in Whitney Plantation? What does it mean to you to be able to like have the opportunities
11:54that you have been able to accrue through the food that you've made knowing, you know,
12:00the limits and the barriers on the people who came before you?
12:05I feel a great amount of privilege. I feel, I feel like I'm doing them the proper justice
12:14because it's not just me. Yeah. Like I do a lot of hard work, right? I build a lot of
12:20relationships.
12:20I do a lot of strategizing and stuff like that. I say yes to things. I say no to myself
12:26and yes to
12:26myself when I need to and stuff like that. I keep purpose in front. I make all those decisions,
12:32but I am not blind to who has done great works before me. Yeah. And they have done great works
12:38before me, you know, in order for me to be how I am, even how I represent myself. You know,
12:44this wasn't a thing. When you look at the beginning of my culinary career, you know,
12:49I was very cookie cutter. You know, I didn't have the tattoos that was visible. You know,
12:54you know, man, now that's funny, man, man, you saw her fast, man, what, man, what just happened?
13:12Man, that is New Orleans. Man, she drove past and she stopped in the front of y'all and did
13:20like this
13:21and then sped off fast. How many miles per hour does that thing go?
13:27That ain't the one from the grocery store.
13:31That ain't the one in Walmart, fat. That ain't the one. Jesus. But only here, only here. But yeah,
13:41so, you know, I feel like, I feel like I'm, I'm privileged and I'm blessed and I'm very,
13:49very grateful to be myself, you know? Yeah.
13:53And so what's next? Cooking from scratch is out. And I know I heard some rumblings about a pilot of
13:58something, some sort. Yes. Yes. So, um, right now I'm on a cookbook tour. I just came back for my
14:05first leg and I did a bunch of cities. Um, I did New York, DC, North Carolina, um, Oxford,
14:16Savannah, and I'm going back out, um, in July, starting with Houston. And then I'll go back on the
14:21East coast again. Um, and after that, you know, I'm just really digging into releasing my pilot,
14:29you know, and getting that and starting to shop it because it's called gumbo and convos.
14:33I have conversations with artists and established people around the city.
14:38And we talk over a bowl of gumbo again, paying homage. We open up the series with the quote from
14:45Leah chase when she says, you know, of course, the America, the course of America was changed
14:51over a bowl of gumbo, you know? So I cook gumbo for people. It's the most diverse dish that we
14:57have.
14:58I create gumbo and then we have a good conversation. We get vulnerable, transparent,
15:05you know, so people can see the things that other people go through and know that they're not alone.
15:11Because a lot of times they look at people and they're in form and think, oh, this, like,
15:16a lot of people would see me and not think I was a teenage parent, you know? Yeah. I had
15:21a baby at 16.
15:21I literally built the life. I was never expected to be anything. And I built this life, good decision
15:28at one good decision at a time, you know, and what people thought was one failure at a time too,
15:33you know? So, um, I really want to crack open, you know, people and get to the vulnerable spot,
15:40the squishy part of each other. And I want people to watch my show and then dust off a dream
15:47that they
15:48have sitting, no matter the age, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And I love that no matter where,
15:53how far you go, like you said, you just went on your book tour, no matter what, it always comes
15:57back
15:57to New Orleans. It always comes back to your roots. It always comes back to the gumbo. I love that
16:01you're
16:01so true to this city. Man. Everything you do. I can't, I can't not be true because the city made
16:07me,
16:08you know? The, the, the, the realness that I possess, I, you can't find that everywhere.
16:16Yeah. The only other city that I think that I find the same realness that we have here is New
16:21York,
16:22you know, truthfully, you know? And I see the raw and the edge and the realness of these people.
16:29And, you know, that's why I got to pay homage all the time. You know, I love this place. I
16:35love that
16:36when you, you're in New Orleans, you get to look people in the eye and you can see,
16:41you know, you can see something. Yeah. You can't see something everywhere now. Yeah. You know,
16:46and I love it. I love it too. That's why we always hear so many great things you have on
16:51your plate
16:52now and so many things that are to come. And I just appreciate having the opportunity to talk to
16:56about all of them. So thank you so much, Toya. Thank you. Everybody give it up for Toya Bodie.
17:02Say it right. And where can everybody pick up cooking from scratch? Man, you could pick it up
17:07anywhere. You can go to local bookstores. You know, if you're gonna, if you're gonna pick it up here,
17:12start with somewhere local and black, you know, like community book center. And community book center,
17:18I'll be here with them Sunday during the daytime after like 10, 30, 11. I have a panel that I
17:24have
17:24to speak on, but after 11, I'll be by community bookstore section in here. The author stage.
17:31Yep. And then I'll be signing books, you know, and stuff too. So you can get one there. I love
17:36it.
17:36I love it. Everybody one more time, give it up for Toya Bodie. Thank you so much for your time,
17:41queen. Thank you.
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