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Long before a celebrated Atlanta chef realized her dream of hosting a cooking show, she knew the main ingredient. She would share what traveling the globe had taught her about the world of soulful Southern comfort food.
“I think it has a more worldly, global aspect. There’s just something about It that brings me peace, harmony and hope. Through food, it’s a bigger place, a bigger message than just feeding our faces,” says Deborah VanTrece, the award-winning owner of two restaurants.
The FYI Network’s “Global Soul Kitchen” premiered on September 2. The TV show gives VanTrece a national stage for presenting her view of the international link between Black America’s soul food and the cuisines of different countries.
“It connects to so much that is a part of our society, our culture and everyone else’s. I like having this platform to say that, to get up on my soapbox and say this about food,” declares VanTrece.
The Journey to Global Soul Kitchen
The CEO and founder of VanTrece Hospitality Group first thought about a television show when she was a youngster fixing dinner for her working mom. Over the years, her love of cooking and entertaining led the Kansas City native to professional kitchens and an extensive study of the element of soul in Southern food and international cuisines.
“No matter who you are, if you’ve ever had a memory from a family meal that brought you so much joy and love, the memories of that food feed your soul,” VanTrece explains. “That is soul food. That is what it does. It doesn’t just feed us nutritionally. It feeds us from the heart. It feeds us from deep inside.”
VanTrece’s view of soul food expanded beyond the Southern traditions that shaped her culinary experiences in the Midwest. When she married a professional basketball player and later became a flight attendant, her travels introduced the avid cook to international meals that reminded her of food she’d previously seen on African American women’s tables.
“Looking at these other places and the soulful ingredients I found, I see them on an ambassador’s or prime minister’s table in different countries. At the markets in Europe, Argentina and other places, I see food I could only find in the United States pretty much in Black neighborhoods being sold in these top markets,” VanTrece states.
The kind of food the chef began to envision during her travels appears today on the menus of Atlanta’s Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours and Oreatha’s at the Point, a restaurant named after VanTrece’s mother.
The offerings celebrate Southern cuisine with international influences and the mother’s love added to dishes all over the world. They include such creations as house-smoked salmon egg rolls, smothered turkey drumstick osso bucco, oxtail lasagna and Thai seasoned catfish and grits.
The restaurateur’s virtual appearance on the “Rachel Ray Show” during the COVID pandemic got the attention of the celebrity host. Ray and her partners at Free Food Studios appreciated what VanTrece could offer in a cooking show about her global soul cuisine and culinary adventures. It allows her to tell the stories behind what people in her world hear and see regularly.
“I’m very proud of that. It’s basically giving you a little glimpse, as one person told me, of the twisted mind of chef Deborah,” she says.
Real-Time Cooking on Global Soul Kitchen
The best-selling author of “The Twisted Soul Cookbook: Modern Soul Food with Global Flavors” has been featured in major publications and on popular NBC, ABC, NPR and Food Network television programs over her more than 20-year career as a chef.
VanTrece knew she had the demonstration skills to host “Global Soul Kitchen.” However, she was less prepared for the challenges of real-time cooking with no editing.
“There are no go-backs. I’m cooking and talking to you. The only way for me to get it done is to treat you like a friend in my kitchen. We’re just talking girl. The only thing I hate is I don’t get to have a glass of wine with you,” VanTrece shares with a laugh.
The chef recalls filming one episode where the smoke detectors started going off while she was cooking a steak. “We had to unplug every one of the smoke detectors. By then, the temperature of the steak wasn’t where I wanted it to be any longer. There wasn’t anything I could do but roll with it.”
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While every shot of food on “Global Soul Kitchen” might not be perfect, VanTrece is pleased with the positive portrayal of her love for cooking and telling stories. The show’s 12 episodes air at 10 p.m. Eastern time zone on FYI.
Each one features the chef cooking globally-inspired Southern dishes, including a fried chicken Monte Cristo and chicken gizzards with poutine. “I have a license to showcase all types of food, and I’m not being put in a box. It has been really fun, just to hear people say they’re going to try cooking something I made,” the restaurateur notes.
Chef VanTrece is proud of the work, which is getting positive responses. She gets the most reward from viewers who relate to an ingredient, a dish or a story.
“I want you to walk away feeling she’s a person just like me who loves to cook and happened to turn it into a profession,” says the “Global Soul Kitchen” host. “I want it to be easier for them to entertain and cook for themselves or their friends. I want them to not be intimidated by cooking or different ingredients. We can at least succeed in pulling off a dinner party together.”
The FYI gives VanTrece a chance to advocate for the benefits of cooking for loved ones. “It is in hopes that other people will bring good stories or food memories into their homes. I want them to understand the importance of creating memories with their families because you can always hold onto that with food,” the chef says.
She also wants the audience to understand how preparing meals with love and intention gives soul to dishes in every culture, not just Black people’s traditional recipes.
“We don’t have to be stagnant with our food. We can cook other things. We can change these recipes. We can make them healthier. We can determine what the next generation of soul food will look like,” says the cooking show host.
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Global Soul Kitchen’s Message
VanTrece experienced many ups and downs on her journey to becoming a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast. As valedictorian of her Art Institute of Atlanta’s graduating class, she entered the restaurant business without professional cooking experience.
One of the challenges the “Global Soul Kitchen” host encountered was the sexist attitudes many men in restaurant kitchens have toward female cooks and chefs.
“I got hit in the face with it from culinary school on. There were very few women who were instructors. It’s a male-dominated industry. We are lucky to now have more allies and people who recognize the problem and are trying to fix it. When you look at the stats, it’s going to take many more years and many more people before we get to that place,” VanTrece admits.
The restaurateur and curator of the American Express Lounge at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has many lessons to share. She sees her new show as a mentoring tool for encouraging passionate cooks to pursue their dreams regardless of their age, race or gender.
“Do not stop yourself from doing something because you’re intimidated by anyone saying you’re not supposed to be there. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten through half the things I’ve gotten through if I had not taken that position. So, I just kept going.”
VanTrece is a supportive member of the LGBTQ community, and she wants her success to inspire women and others who have struggled to gain acceptance in the hospitality industry.
The chef believes her humble upbringing with parents who taught her to persevere helped her overcome obstacles. “I know that it was from them allowing me to grow and never telling me I couldn’t do something, I couldn’t be something. Never allowing me to run away from the fight, teaching me that if you are strong, and that’s where you are supposed to be, it’s going to be.”
The hospitality CEO turns 65 in October. She talks about the future while curating a soul food menu for the Black Music Action Coalition gala at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles.
VanTrece remains open to the possibility of another season for “Global Soul Kitchen” and more restaurants and cookbooks. The chef expresses her belief that passion has no expiration date.
“I never stopped. I never lost sight of what I wanted. I never lost my dream. I never felt I was too old for my dream, and I still don’t. And so, I keep dreaming. Everyone who wants to do this and is being called to do it, I want them to see that.”
Watch “Global Soul Kitchen” on FYI Mondays at 10 p.m. Eastern time zone. The episodes stream the next day. You can stay in touch with the award-winning Atlanta chef and TV host on social media @deborahvantrece.
