Grandparents Inspire a Lifelong Love of Cooking

Talk to any professional chef, and almost all will tell you a story about how they spent time with a grandparent in the kitchen, learning to make a special dish, hearing family stories, or just sharing wonderful times together.
It seems many professional chefs not only learned to love cooking by spending time with a grandparent, they also were encouraged to follow their dreams, wherever they might lead. And according to Dr. F. Jeri Carter, head of the Washington School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University/Seattle, that ability to cheer on or praise without reservation is one of the best gifts a grandparent can give a grandchild.

“Grandparents and grandchildren enjoy a special relationship that is not colored either by the mundane, daily interactions or by the sometimes divisive intensities that come with the parent-child relationship,” says Carter. Instead, she says, “grandparents are the ones who delight in indulging your every whim, and are persuaded that you are the most beautiful/handsome, smartest, most talented, most (fill in the superlative) ever.”

September 12 is National Grandparents Day, and to celebrate The Art Institutes asked its chef faculty and culinary students to share stories about a beloved grandparent who inspired a love of cooking.

For Chef Michael Edrington, a culinary instructor at The Art Institute of Charlotte, a career in the culinary arts started working long weekends at his grandparents’ farm outside Branford in Central Florida.

“My grandparents had 13 children. They were poor, but never hungry,” says Edrington. Their refrigerator was usually almost empty because they grew everything and ate it fresh. His grandmother, while not a “creative cook” did what many women of her generation did, and cooked recipes from the back of boxes such as SurJell, Dixie Crystal Sugar, and Ball canning jars. Edrington says his grandmother’s kitchen was off-limits while she was cooking, but by persistence and interest he was gradually allowed in to help. He found cooking therapeutic and a productive alternative to mischief making. “That experience set me on a path not only to my career but also to a new outlook on life,” he says.

At The Art Institute of New York City, Chef Frank Lima explains it was a beloved grandfather who guided him toward his love of cooking. A Steward at the Essex House Hotel in New York City, Lima’s grandfather, Pedro Flores Diaz, encouraged Frank to visit often, helping to wash dishes and set up banquets. When his grandfather learned there was an opening for an apprentice at the famous Le Pavillion, the first grand restaurant in New York City, he recommended Frank for the job.

Chef Lima’s grandfather was instrumental in starting him on the other significant path of his life -- his love of poetry. Lima remembers his grandfather reading poetry to him in Spanish. He would then memorize verses and gradually he began to write his own poetry. Today Lima often thinks of his grandfather when he writes, or is in the kitchen. “He taught me a reverence for food, and showed me that both food and poetry are true forms of art,” says Lima.

It’s not only professional chefs who’ve been inspired by a grandparent to follow a career path to the kitchen. A sampling of students at The Art Institute of California -- Orange County also weighed in with memories of grandparents who inspired them.

According to Anthony Padua, his grandmother Maria “is the source of my culinary inspiration.” Padua lived with his grandmother in Guadalajara, Mexico for close to three years and learned to prepare home cooked tamales, mole, salsa, and other authentic Mexican dishes made with few ingredients. “It was the first time my sister and I had home cooked food and where I found my love for cooking. Being in the kitchen with my Grandma taught me how to take few ingredients and turn them into wonderful family meals but, more importantly, how food connected us as a family,” he says.

Culinary student Katy Gillis used to sail to the Bahamas with her grandparents every summer. It taught Gillis to make due with what was available, and since there was little refrigeration on the boat, how to live off what they found in the ocean.

“What we caught that day became our food for the next few meals. My Nana taught me how to work with little and make it last -- she taught me how to experiment with food and create various dishes from few ingredients. From conch stew to conch fritters and her famous key lime pie, those experiences with her and that time on the ocean gave me the foundation for the cooking I love today," says Gillis.

As a child of a single working mother, Lauren Lott was raised by her grandparents Ellen and Tony. “More than anything, my grandfather is the source of my passion for cooking, he is the reason I am in the kitchen today. The wonderful, and simple Italian dishes that were a part of our daily lives were also a part of our family and growing up," she says.