A change of seasons means new colors, a change of wardrobe, and if you’re in the kitchen cooking… you may change up what you prepare.
Award-winning chef Joanne Weir has a family history of cooking that she cultivates when preparing food for any season. As a cookbook author, international cooking teacher and host of an award-winning PBS series, “Joanne Weir’s Cooking Class,” and “Joanne Weir’s Cooking Confidence,” she shares her love of cooking and her secret of teaching people how to be the best cook with WGBH mid-day host Henry Santoro.
A UMass Amherst alumna, Weir has a new book out this fall, entitled, “Kitchen Gypsy: Recipes and Stories from a Lifelong Romance with Food.”
In sharing her first food memory, Weir tells Santoro when she was about five-years old, her Mother made her a homemade tomato sandwich. Not just any sandwich, but with food her Mother crafted from scratch.
Weir says her Mom, who was a great gardener and cook, “went out to the garden and picked a beautiful tomato, sliced it up, placed the warm tomato on homemade bread, spread homemade mayonnaise on top of it, and then sprinkled it with salt. “ Weir says that experience was her initial taste test to becoming a chef and she is a fourth generation cook.
Weir, who studied Fine Arts at UMass Amherst where she received her BFA in Art Education says, “Art wasn’t as easy for me as cooking was, so she ended up teaching something she loved more …cooking in the kitchen.”
Weir says in the kitchen she is patient and calm because she wants people to learn something.
During their interview at the WGBH studios in Brighton, MA, Weir was cagey when Santoro asked for her opinion of Chef Gordon Ramsey. She was humbled when responding to Santoro’s compliments and questions about coming to WGBH and the house that "helped build Julia Child."
Santoro, who has a passion for cooking, has a collection of 5,000 cookbooks he uses while cooking in the kitchen to the delight of family and friends.
Weir’s newest TV series, “Joanne Gets Fresh” began airing nationally in January.
To listen to the entire interview with Joanne Weir and how she got her start as a chef, where her passion comes from, and her favorite quote about cooking…click on the audio link above.
