Episode Eleven: The Interview - Chef Johnny V.

In this longer interview, It was, and still is, all about LOVE in Chef Johnny V's kitchen. Find out how his Grandmother played a vital role in teaching him what LOVE looks like and how Spirit has been his constant companion.

Transcript

I think because my grandmother was so loving,

Like so cool,

Was so loving,

And I think,

And I always laugh because of my weight,

I think I connected cooking with love early on.

And so the feeling of love while I was cooking,

I thought this must be kind of a good,

You know,

A good world to want to be in.

And you know,

I was a chubby child as I am a chubby adult.

So,

You know,

Somebody makes you a pie and you're a chubby kid,

You're like,

Yeah,

That's love,

Baby.

So my grandfather Chauncey was my mother's father.

Think it was about maybe 1920,

Started a Methodist church in Rochester,

Upstairs above a bowling alley.

They probably initially had 30 members of which my mother was brought up in that church.

Now he actually,

He died pretty young.

And in those days,

If someone was widowed,

And I don't know how popular this was,

But because my grandmother's,

My grandfather's brother was single,

When he died,

His brother married my grandmother to continue to help take care of her and stuff.

And this brother was also a minister,

An ordained minister.

So he continued on with that church,

Which grew into a big church.

When I was,

You know,

A kid by the stage,

Oh,

We probably had four or 500 members.

So my mother,

I was thinking of her this morning,

Was always a good Christian woman.

And my grandmother,

Chauncey,

Was this amazing pillar of goodness and love and light,

And had grandchildren that were gay,

That were Jehovah's Witnesses,

That were transsexual,

That were alcoholics,

That died of AIDS.

And this woman through her whole life rolled with the punches and in what I consider true Christian love,

Never questioned any of her grandchildren's drama,

Except to give them love and support.

That was also the person I learned to cook from,

Because my mother was not a great cook.

When I was born,

She got arthritis,

My mother did,

And pretty early on really was crippled from it.

So dinner was a very basic,

Mostly with Campbell's soup and stuff,

But I spent a lot of time at my grandmother's,

And she was a great cook.

If you know anything about Methodists,

You have a potluck every Friday night.

I would assist my grandmother making pies or making stuff for the potluck and things.

So I was brought up in,

I would say,

A good,

Happy Christian home.

The funny thing about this is my mom died,

I think when she was 78.

My dad actually got involved with another woman from our church,

And they were boyfriend and girlfriend,

If you will,

For another 10 years.

He outlived her.

So he lived to be almost 98.

And I remember when he was probably 96,

It was around Easter and we were talking,

And we had some pretty comfortable discussions.

I remember calling him before Easter and saying something like,

So you're gonna go to church on Sunday?

And he said to me,

No,

He'd been going to this church probably since he was 15.

So 83 years he went to this church.

He said,

You know,

I just don't know if I believe in the resurrection.

I said,

Well,

Dad,

Okay,

You,

Pretty much the resurrection is what you've been going to church for for 83 years.

And he said,

I just don't know if I think he rolled the stone away.

And I said to him,

I said,

You know,

Dad,

I think that's where faith comes in.

And I said,

Maybe you should talk,

You know,

Talk to our pastor about it,

Because that's a really good question.

But I laughed because I thought,

And I said,

This might be a good time to figure all that out because you're getting close to the hereafter.

But let me tell you,

When I was just thinking about this today,

When I was 13,

I went to a church camp,

Our church camp in upstate New York.

And,

You know,

It was all about,

You know,

Campfires and singing and all that stuff.

But we did have one year,

I guess we were old enough,

Where one of our camp counselors said,

All right,

Today,

I want you,

And it was a huge camp with lots of woods and stuff,

I want you to go out and see if you can find,

I don't know if they said find God,

But go out and listen and see if you feel anything.

And I'm sure they said,

Why don't you see if you can make a connection to God?

And I'm sure as a 13 year old,

We're all like,

Oh God,

You know,

Oh God,

How silly,

You know.

But I clearly remember going out way off the beaten path,

It's a beautiful summer day.

And I think,

You know,

Like probably a lot of people,

Come to me,

God,

You know,

Contact me,

Let's do this.

It would be hard to do,

You know.

But I remember sitting there,

Probably seeing,

I'm gonna cry,

You know,

A ray of sunshine come through the trees,

And I thought,

That's it,

That is it.

It didn't hit me over the head,

I didn't have to drop on my knees,

But I felt a connection.

But it was such an easy connection.

It was not,

It wasn't a connection I felt that I had to tell everybody about,

It was a very personal thing.

And it's a connection that I've,

You know,

Felt my whole life,

You know,

I still have it.

But then when I moved to New York City,

I discovered a group called Unity.

And when I used to go in New York,

This would have been in the 80s,

It was right at the beginning of AIDS.

And the Sunday service was at Lincoln Center in the main theater.

And,

You know,

It's five tiers fall.

And when people with AIDS were so chastised or shamed or afraid to be in public,

I remember up on the upper tiers of the Lincoln Center would be AIDS patients brought with friends in wheelchairs.

And you could,

You know,

Maybe covered up and came and got this wonderful message that Unity taught.

And it was really reminded me of lepers in Jesus's time,

You know,

And I think it obviously brought many,

Many people a great comfort.

I think because my grandmother was so loving,

Like so cool,

She lived to be 82,

She'd been divorced from her second husband for 40 years,

Had her own apartment,

She had nine grandchildren,

And then great grandchildren,

You know,

Was so loving.

And I think,

And I always laugh because of my weight,

I think I connected cooking with love early on.

And so the feeling of love while I was cooking,

I thought this must be kind of a good,

You know,

A good world to wanna be in.

And you know,

I was a chubby child as I am a chubby adult.

So,

You know,

Somebody makes you a pie and you're a chubby kid,

You're like,

Yeah,

That's love baby.

When my father actually moved out of our family home that I'd lived in when I was a kid,

My sister packed up all of my belongings that I'd left there 40 years ago,

Which included a Bible I got when I was probably,

Well,

I guess I would have been confirmed in the Methodist church.

So probably,

I think maybe 10,

I don't think we were 13.

And I hadn't seen that Bible in 50 years,

Literally,

You know and she sent it to me here in Santa Fe.

You know,

I'd had it unpacked and it was out.

And one day,

I guess I pulled it out to,

You know,

Just to look at it,

See what year it was from.

And in the front,

I had written my favorite Bible verses,

You know,

I'm sure a teacher said,

Write down your favorite Bible verses.

Literally,

I opened that book.

The verse that I mentioned was the basis for my religious or my spiritual beliefs was pretty much the core of what Unity taught,

The core of what Louise Hay taught.

And I literally burst into tears because I thought I probably didn't realize at that stage that that was my little mantra and it was there.

So probably that led me in the direction of Unity and Louise Hay and meditation.

And I thought,

My God,

It was like,

You know,

My little passport that directed me in that direction.

And then I thought,

I have followed my path from that day.

It's so beautiful,

The story about,

You know,

At age 10,

You're writing these verses down in the Bible and then you open it like 40 years later and there,

It's like your heart already knew.

And I'm just curious if as a child and loved being in the kitchen and cooking with your grandma,

Did you suspect that you would become a chef at all?

I think early on,

Yes.

When I was 15,

I became a girl boy in a big coffee shop in Rochester and loved the connection with the people.

It was a very busy restaurant.

And you know,

All I did is flip burgers all day.

I loved the camaraderie of everybody,

You know.

Oh my God,

There'd be 20 waitresses working.

And I luckily had a manager that kind of took me under her wing bell,

Her name was,

And really encouraged me from that early age.

So she actually had gone to a two-year college in upstate New York that she actually,

I remember probably more when I was 16,

Drove me there so we could see the campus and stuff.

In New York state,

They're called SUNY colleges,

State University of New York.

So it's a two-year school.

Mostly you specialize in your,

You know,

Career.

But I went to a different one called Coble Skill and that started my,

You know,

My education and stuff.

But yeah,

I think cooking,

I think the creative outlet of cooking is as satisfactory for me as art or the theater would have been,

You know.

So I didn't think,

Oh God,

I'm just a cook,

You know.

And sometimes I feel like you're cooking from some extra worldly space,

You know.

You just let yourself go and then,

You know,

Try to get creative and stuff.

So,

And it's weird,

I feel like I have a sixth sense about how much salt a dish needs.

It's so weird.

Before I season it,

I like connect with that,

Connect with that dish and say,

Okay.

This might be a little bit of a personal question,

But I'm so intrigued.

Did you ever have this experience as a growing chef or learning chef where an older chef dressed you down and chastised you?

I often worked,

And you know about how you could work in the front of the house of a restaurant and in the kitchen.

Usually I worked,

I might work lunch in a kitchen and night on the floor.

And I think the fact that I had a front of the house knowledge that a chef I might work with recognized he could come to me and say,

Can you make this happen with the floor staff?

Gave me a little extra respect rather than,

You know,

A lot of,

Not so much now,

But in the old days,

As you know,

The kitchen staff never got along with the restaurant staff.

You know,

They'd be awful to the waiters.

And one year I actually got to work in Stratford in a restaurant right when I was coming out of college.

And they had a French chef who thought Americans were nothing to do with,

Didn't know anything about food.

And I was like a part-time manager in this restaurant.

And this French chef belittled everyone,

Including me.

And toward the end of the summer,

I was almost about to leave there.

The owner of the restaurant,

Spamps had a family emergency,

Had to leave Stratford for the week.

And I became the manager for a couple of the shifts.

And everybody was upset because this Joe that ran the restaurant was so organized and so strong and everything,

That everybody was a little worried about him being gone.

So I was trying my hardest to,

You know,

Get everything set up and well,

The chef decided to come out and give me a hard time and bust the waiter's chops.

And I lost it.

I said,

I screamed and yelled at him.

I said,

I have taken your abuse for four months.

And you have to realize the entire staff today is upset because Joe is not here.

And rather than you giving us the support we need,

You are out here well.

His eyes just about popped out of his head.

He was so incredulous that I spoke to him that way,

That he stormed out of the dining room,

Went into the kitchen.

I think once the buffet was set up,

He left.

As it was,

You know,

Self-serve.

And literally two days later when I saw him again,

All of a sudden he treated me with such respect.

And I think eventually he said to me,

You know,

I realized the other day you were right.

And I think I apologize for the trouble I've given you all this summer.

And you know,

And I thought,

Wow.

Cause he probably should have fired me,

You know.

But it was,

It was,

That was cool.

["The I was working in a new restaurant in New York doing lunch.

And I was like,

It was a new restaurant that would do 10 lunches.

So very popular at night,

But they just,

You know,

Wanted to be open for lunch.

And the first day we opened,

The kitchen had this sort of slant that went down to a drain in the middle of the kitchen.

I think just to make it easy to clean.

Well,

Right when the order started popping in,

It was me and a cleanup guy.

I dropped a huge bucket of tomato soup that basically splashed all over the kitchen.

And we didn't have time to clean it up.

And I cooked that entire shift slip and slipping and sliding around in that tomato soup.

And I was,

I probably prayed.

I prayed,

I'll admit it.

I did some serious praying during those times.

So I remember I worked briefly in Nashville,

Tennessee,

And a big,

Very popular restaurant in every,

Just before we'd open for lunch,

The owner would show up looking like he just crawled out of a dustbin,

Often in his pajamas,

Because he lived close to the restaurant,

And would basically rant and rave like a lunatic for 20 minutes,

And then go back home,

And then we'd all work.

And it was like,

Okay then,

You know.

Usually my last question,

I mean,

I really am just so struck and so just enamored by the story of you and your grandmother's kitchen and just food becoming love for you.

And to me,

That moment,

Those moments in your childhood,

Were like miracles,

You know,

Because they showed your heart what direction you wanted to go.

Yeah,

Yeah,

It's,

I always,

And I discuss with friends all the time,

I was so blessed to have a very happy childhood.

And you and I have both heard stories of very unhappy childhoods for kids,

You know,

For adults.

And I think that one of my challenges with my mom being pretty much,

You know,

Crippled,

Was as children,

I think because my mom was in pain,

Like all of us kids probably put our emotions on hold a little bit growing up because we didn't want to upset my mother,

Basically,

Or my father,

They had enough to worry about.

And I think when I was in my grandmother's home,

That tension wasn't there.

So maybe that was part of the connection of feeling a little freer and a little less afraid.

My dear grandmother snored like a rock star and we always stayed over.

We always stayed over two nights,

You know,

And she would always say,

Just poke me and wake me up if I snore because we slept in the same bed,

You know.

And oh my God,

I remember we didn't sleep for two nights and we would wake her up from snoring.

And then as soon as she went back to sleep,

She snored again.

And all of my cousins,

We've all compared notes.

Remember when we'd stay at grandma's and she would snore.

And,

But like I said,

She traversed all the different challenges of a strong Christian woman could face with her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren.

One of the questions that I usually start with,

But I can ask now is how do you,

John,

Chef Johnny B,

How do you describe yourself?

How,

What,

Who are you as a human?

That's a really good question.

Wow,

That's a good question.

I mean,

My first thing would be,

I like to think that I'm a good guy.

I like to think people think I'm a good guy,

Which is I think a good place to be.

I think I'm a softie.

I mean,

Literally I can watch a commercial and start crying,

Which is,

You know,

I wish I,

Sometimes I wish I was a little tougher,

You know.

That's a good question.

I like to hope to feel respected in the community.

I do like it when,

You know,

Somebody,

I mean,

Every week somebody will say to me,

Oh,

You're that chef guy.

And I like that.

I mean,

They don't know who I am.

No idea who my,

What my name is or where I might chef.

But a woman yesterday with a mask on,

So I had no idea who she was.

She said,

Oh,

Have you been cooking a lot during COVID?

And I said,

Oh yeah,

Yeah,

You know.

So,

And you know,

This is a small town.

And because I wrote for the newspaper,

My picture was in the paper,

Writing for the Santa Fe and now New Mexico magazine.

You know,

It's nice to have an identity that is hopefully a positive one,

That there's that cra,

I mean,

I think I'm a little crazy,

But I,

You know,

Hopefully good crazy not crazy crazy.

That's a really good question.

If you remember years ago,

Barbara Walters in her interviews started asking people,

If you were a tree,

What kind of tree would you be?

And I remember the first time I saw this,

I think Katharine Ephron was on,

You know,

And in her inimitable voice said,

I think of myself as an oak tree.

I'm strong and straight growing and you know,

Can weather the storm and stuff.

Maybe she didn't ask everybody,

But what if you asked me if I was a dish of food,

What would I be?

If you were a dish of food,

What would you be?

Yeah,

I think,

I think my favorite dish,

Which could be the answer is called pasta puttanesca,

Which probably that's not a good thing to admit if you know anything about the origin of the word putta,

But I think I would be a spicy dish with lots of really full flavored ingredients.

So pasta puttanesca has olives,

Anchovies,

Capers,

Red pepper flakes,

Tomato,

Basil.

So hopefully a lot of delicious,

Very tasty ingredients come together,

You know.

Lots of layers and complexity.

Yeah,

Hopefully,

Yeah.

And you know,

So yeah,

It's a good thing I got that.

For that five minutes of freedom in your day or the longer interviews,

We're grateful you're here.

I need to thank Chef Johnny V for sharing his story today as well as the creators of the music used Sasha End,

Music L.

Files,

Philip Rice,

Agniese Balmagia,

Kevin MacLeod,

Raphael Crux,

Frank Schter,

And Rommel Pro.

For complete attribution please see the Bite-Sized Blessings website at bite-sized-blessings.

Com and remember that's bite spelled B-Y-T-E.

On the website you can find links to other episodes as well as to books and music I think will lift and inspire you.

Thank you for listening and here's my one request.

Be like Chef Johnny V and create some love in your kitchen.