In this episode, we bring you the one and only Carla Hall, the celebrity chef, author, and TV personality. Join us in this episode as Carla takes us on a flavorful adventure that connects modern cuisine with her ancestral roots.
In this episode, we bring you the one and only Carla Hall, the famous celebrity chef, author, and TV personality. Join us in this episode as Carla takes us on a flavorful adventure that connects modern cuisine with her ancestral roots!
Story District's podcast brings you hilarious, heartfelt, and thought-provoking true stories told live on the Story District stage. Host Amy Saidman goes behind the scenes with the storytellers to hear more about what it takes to tell a great story.
In the third season, we bring you "I Did It for the Story". All new episodes will feature true stories told live on the Story District stage and insights about storytelling from Host and Story District founding director, Amy Saidman.
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This podcast is produced by Christopher Lee and Amy Saidman.
Music by Graceful Movement
Amy Saidman: What's up everyone. I'm Amy Saidman, and this is I did it for the story, the podcast for people who love storytelling. I'm the director of story district. At Story District, we help people like you become great storytellers on stage, at work and in life. And in this podcast, you'll hear some of our very favorites. True stories told live on the Story District stage.
Listeners, have we got a featured storyteller for you? She's famous. For being a celebrity chef, being an author, she's tall. She's beautiful. She has a pair of glasses for every occasion. She dances a lot on her Instagram. She is the one and only Carla Hall. And you may know her best from Top Chef, The Chew, Good Morning America, and all kinds of other things.
So I met Carla when she was getting ready to go on tour with her book, Carla Hall's Soul Food, Every Day in Celebration. And she came to us because when you're on a book tour, you have to talk a lot. You have, you know, television spots and podcasts and radio spots and bookstores. So she wanted to be prepared with Good stories to talk about.
So in the process of our story coaching, we came up, we pulled out several different stories from her life and we came up with this one and this one we put on stage in one of our shows, breaking bread, which featured a bunch of different people in the food industry in Washington, DC, and now you get to hear it. And find out a little bit more about what inspired her book.
Carla Hall: So it's Top Chef All Stars, and I can't believe that I'm here again. Competing. I said no to all this several times before I said yes. And now I'm sequestered. As in, no husband, no freedom. Phones, computers, books, magazines, newspapers. As in, no written recipes. It's the fourth elimination challenge, and the theme is the U.S. Open. Make a dish that's fit for an elite athlete. I mean, as a caterer and a runner, I think I know what they mean. And I want to win, not only because I'm really competitive, but because I've got a lot to lose this time around. In the last three years since I was on Top Chef season five, my hooty hoo call has kind of become a thing.
Hooty hoo! Apparently, I'm becoming a brand, and I've gotten lots of invitations to cook and speak all over the country. So when this opportunity came up, my PR agent was not on board. Carla, I've done a really great job establishing your brand. And I, I mean we, have worked really hard trying to separate your brand from Top Chef.
And we definitely don't want to risk getting kicked off first. I mean, now I'm second guessing myself. You know, was the first time a fluke? I mean, some things haven't changed. I'm just a caterer going up against these seasoned and pedigreed restaurant chefs. Well, thankfully for my PR agent, us getting kicked off first didn't happen.
So our team captain, Mike Isabella, huddles us around a prep table in the Top Chef kitchen. I'm exhausted. From lots of late mornings. Lots of early mornings, late nights, and just plain old thinking. We've just finished a quick flower challenge, and I had the least favorite dish. I mean, it's hard not to psych yourself out before every challenge, and now replay and analyze your performance after every challenge.
Y'all may have fun watching competition shows, but actually competing is hard. So Mike says, okay, orange team, let's talk about the dishes that we're going to make. This is a team challenge. You know, it's not just about the individual dish. And then Fabio immediately says he's doing whole wheat and gnocci.
Antonia is doing scallops and white beans. Richard Blaze is doing... Uh, take on tabbouleh and lamb, and, and Dale Taude is doing edamame dumplings. And then there's me. I've got... Nothing. I feel... Nothing. There is nothing in my head. I am racking my brain. And eventually I come up with... Groundnut stew. Oh. We're not allowed to use recipes, so it's only my memory.
My memory is pulling me into something that is deep inside me, and something about my ancestors. My ancestors are Yoruba from the, from, um, are Yoruba from Nigeria, and the Bubi people from Bioko Island. So, you see, some time ago, I didn't want to have anything to do with the food that I grew up on. I didn't want to have anything to do with anything that my ancestors were eating.
I wanted to be a chef, not a cook. Do French cuisine, not soul food. Run in the opposite direction of fried chicken. But I'm telling you, in this moment, I'm pulling from something that is deep inside me. And I'm envisioning my ancestors, and I see them in these bright colored cloths. You know, golds and blues and oranges and greens.
And I see them around this drum circle. And then the drum is playing and their hips are swaying. And they're stomping to the beats. Oh, and they're anticipating this stew, of groundnut stew, and there's tomatoes, peppers, and onions, and fragrant ginger. Can you see it? And then it's all coming together, and there's some spices in there, and then there's scotch bonnets.
So that spice is cooling them off in the sub Saharan heat. And they're chunks of white. African potatoes, and these azuki beans that are reddish brown. And then there's the groundnuts that we call peanuts that are chunky and smooth. Oh, and all of this comes together just by adding water, and it is this beautiful stew, and I can taste it.
And I can just see that I am traveled right there to that place with my ancestors. And it's so good, and I'm just in it! And then I hear Dale Talde saying, Really? A stew? A vegetarian stew? Dude, this is the U. S. Open. That's not fancy enough. And then I'm thinking, I have no idea. I've never been to the U. S. Open. I immediately want to change my dish, but I don't know what to change it to. So it's the morning of the challenge, and I'm just in the prepping zone, and I've committed to my groundnut stew, and I'm chopping some roasted red peppers. I got a pot on the stove with the base of my soup. I'm looking up at the clock, and there are cameras all in my face, and right as I look back, they're like, Ah!
I cut off almost all of my nail, and I grab a towel, and I'm holding it on my finger so that it doesn't drip onto my cutting board. And the medic yells across the room, Do you want to go to the hospital? And I'm like, No! Because all I can think of is my prep. And I was just like, Ah! Does it hurt? Yes. Do I think I'm going to pass out? I don't think so.
So the medic does what he needs to do, and then he wraps me up. And time is precious, and I lose an entire ten minutes. And now I have this big ass bandage on my third finger and a blue glove. And I'm moving around klutzy like, but I finished my prep. And now it's time to present our dishes to the judges, going head to head with the other chefs from the other team.
So here we are in the stadium. And our team captain ultimately decides who goes first. He plays us like chess pieces. Five chefs have already gone. There are three wins, and we have two losses. Not once has my dish been considered, by the way. And we're low on options. It's either me or Mike. And I hear Dale Taude saying, Carla's dish is vegetarian for God's sake.
And Mike says, yeah, flavors need to develop more. And they're really, those spices are really strong. I mean, they're talking about me like I'm not even in the room. And then I hear Mike saying, All right, Carl, you're up. I just keep thinking, if I win, I am validated. But if I lose...
So I take my dish and I present it in front of the judges against Trey Salmon. And the first judge says, I like the salmon. I pick Trey. And every word feels like a dagger, eye, pick, tray. Because in my head, I hear, you're not good. And I take a really deep breath, to keep that prickly sensation in my nose from turning into a tear. And the next judge says, Carla, this soup is fantastic. I'm going with Carla. And then the next judge says, I pick Carla.
I'm beyond happy right now because I've got two votes, but I won't allow my face to commit to a smile because I need one more vote. And the next judge says, Carla's super spicy.
But I love spice. I pick Carla.
Yes! And with My team, with my help, and all of the chefs on my team are running up in this high five, and then I hear one of the chefs on my team say, Good thing Trey overcooked that salmon.
That's exactly how I felt.
So now, the winners of my team, including myself, we're in front of the judges. And everybody's really happy because there's no downside to being here because nobody's going home. And we find out what the ultimate winner will win. And it probably won't be me, but it's a magnum of wine. Which is a big ass bottle of wine, by the way.
It's like five bottles in one. And a five day trip to Italy. I know. So the guest judge announces the winner. The winner of the Magnum of Wine and the five day trip to Italy is the chef who made the dish that stood out. It was balanced and elegant. And the winner is... Carla.
Humble ground nuts to balance and elegance. What the not fancy, not French, no meat having balance and elegant stone. What in your face fancy? Yeah, it was such a validation for me as a chef as a black woman for my culture. And I didn't know it then, but this is what put me on the path to my latest cookbook, Carla Hall's Soul Food, Every Day in Celebration. Thank you.
Amy Saidman: All right, let's give one more shout out to our storyteller, author and celebrity chef, Carla Hall. Again, I can't say enough how grateful I was to be able to work with Carla. We spent a bunch of time just talking about her life and, and that's what we do in a coaching session. We start with just asking you to talk and from those conversations, we start to.
Figure out, well, what makes sense, what matters, what are good story seeds that we can build into a full story that is compelling to an audience and, um, yeah, it's a really interesting process and we really help you take all these raw ideas and memories and give them a shape and help you pull out sort of what is the central meaning.
And what are the moments that create a full narrative arc? So I hope this story and this podcast gets you to be thinking about your stories and the stories that you want to tell. And Story District is here to help. If you're interested, we have classes, live shows. We do coaching. We have consulting for businesses.
And a lot of that takes place in person in Washington, D. C. in the D. C. area. Um, but for those of you who don't live there, we also have things online. So visit us at storydistrict.org and join our newsletter. You can follow us on social media. We're mostly on Instagram. We have a YouTube channel with lots of great stories.
So lots of ways to get in touch with us. But in the meantime. If you enjoyed this podcast, subscribe, leave a five star review, tell your friends, and most of all, keep listening until next time. I'm Amy Saidman, and this is, I did it for the story.