We recently connected with Deborah Johnson and have shared our conversation below.

Deborah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I am deeply grateful for the love, effort, and sacrifices my parents made in raising us. Three aspects of how they nurtured us stand out as especially significant in shaping my creative and professional journey.

First, my mom gave me freedom in the kitchen from a young age. She wasn’t possessive of her kitchen space. As long as I cleaned up after myself, I was free to experiment and make any culinary creation I wanted from a very young age. That freedom allowed me to experiment and explore, and it was crucial in developing my creativity, independence, and passion for cooking. I would spend hours poring over her cookbooks, choosing recipes that piqued my interest, and making them. While she didn’t have a lot of time to cook with me, the freedom she gave me to learn on my own was invaluable. It gave me confidence in the kitchen, which eventually led to countless beautiful and meaningful moments around the table.

Secondly, my parent’s huge heart for hospitality helped me fall in love with the way that food unites people. They were always inviting people over, so I had opportunities to serve my cooking experiments to a house full of people on a consistent basis. Seeing how powerful food was in bringing a smile to people’s faces and making them feel cared for and connected ignited this lifelong passion in me.

Third, my parents nurtured a love of reading. We spent countless hours at the library, and since we didn’t have a TV, books were our main form of entertainment. To this day, my siblings and I are all voracious readers. Reading authors like Wendell Berry, Dorie Greenspan, and Robert Farrar Capon have all added nuance to my passion for the culinary arts. Reading provides constant inspiration and has added a depth to my creative work that I wouldn’t have otherwise discovered.

These are just a few of the ways my parents shaped who I am today, both personally and professionally. I owe so much to their guidance and example.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a cookbook author, food writer, and culinary enthusiast. My journey into the world of food was driven by a deep belief that I was meant to do this. My passion is helping others rediscover the joy and power of home-cooking and reimagine the kitchen as a place of creativity and connection.

Growing up, I saw the magic that happens when people break bread together. But as an adult I noticed a trend. When you speak of the kitchen, a sigh or a grimace is a more common reaction than eagerness. Meals involve takeout and going out more often than cooking at home. I have found that having the ability to nurture myself and the people around me with food has been so fulfilling. I had a growing desire to empower my peers to experience confidence in the kitchen and see for themselves how accessible it can be to make great food at home. I think there are many missed opportunities for health and connection because we are less connected to our food and the ability to prepare it and share it in our homes.

What sets my work apart is that it’s about more than food. It’s an invitation to a more intentional, connected way of life. The kitchen is a great place to start, but the principles extend into every area of our lives. To me, it’s about slowing down and savoring what is good in life, and learning to connect to and nourish ourselves and others.

One of the most fulfilling aspects of my work is hearing from readers who’ve been positively impacted by my work. I’ve seen readers who once dreaded cooking become skilled at bread-baking after trying my simple recipe and realizing how easy it can be. That newfound confidence inspired them to explore other dishes, and now they’re accomplished home cooks who enjoy preparing meals from scratch—much to their family’s delight. I treasure photos I’ve received from moms cooking with their kids or friends hosting meals inspired by the book, because that was exactly what I hoped my writing would encourage. One reader recently shared, “Since I started taking time to reflect in the mornings, I’ve begun dreaming again!” It’s incredibly rewarding to see people experience the benefits of pausing and savoring the opportunities for thoughtfulness, beauty, and care that are available in our daily routines, in the kitchen and beyond.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I didn’t realize how important it is to be in a creative community until I found one myself.
When you’re doing creative work it can feel very lonely as it’s very rarely a prescribed path that people easily understand. I didn’t know any other way than to go at it alone, until incidentally I stumbled upon an organization called Art House and joined a local writers group. Getting to experience and chat honestly about the highs and lows and complexities of the creative process with like minded souls is such a gift, I only wish I had found them earlier! The insight of other creatives, even in small conversations or subtle words of encouragement, has been invaluable.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal behind my creative journey is to 1) show how transformative it is to have the skills to nourish yourselves and others with lovingly prepared food, and 2) to demonstrate how accessible those skills are for anyone interested in learning. I want to convey how important it is to our culture, communities, and home life that we pause to take a more thoughtful approach to food. We live in an era of fast and processed food. In many ways we have lost the consistent experience of meals lovingly prepared from scratch. The devastating impact of that approach to food on our health as a society cannot be understated, in physical, psychological, and cultural terms. Processed food is demonstrably damaging both the quantity and quality of our lives in ways we are still only beginning to understand. Our communities are more fragmented than ever and the loneliness epidemic gets worse and worse- I see a return to connecting around our dining tables as a beautiful way of addressing that, one meal at a time. With the advent of the grocery store, we’ve lost touch with where food comes from, what it takes to raise it, and what grows well where we live. I’ve never been more convinced, since moving to the country and learning from passionate local farmers that are working hard to faithfully steward their land, how important it is to understand and support local food production. To me, preparing and enjoying a home-cooked meal together can be a chance to connect with our community and environment, care for our health, communicate love, as well as an opportunity to slow down and savor the simple pleasures in life. In other words, embracing a more thoughtful approach to food is a dazzlingly worthwhile endeavor.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.deborahesjohnson.com
• Instagram: @deborahesjohnson
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deborahesjohnsonbooks
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@deborahesjohnson

Image Credits

Ashleigh Amoroso