Food, according to Becky Hadeed, is nothing short of a daily miracle.
The photographer and creator of “The Storied Recipe” podcast has long been fascinated by humanity’s relationship with it.
“Food really speaks of God’s intimate love for us,” she said. “You go and you get this thing out of the ground, and it’s just beautiful. I mean, there is just nothing more beautiful than the color of the inside of a beet. It’s just one of those miracles that we take for granted.”
Hadeed was trying to make a name for herself in the food photography industry when she realized that it was the relationship with the food that mattered to her.
“I didn’t realize food was so intimate until I was trying to take pictures for a company of a granola bar,” Hadeed said. “There is nothing storytelling about a granola bar. I wanted to do something more. I wanted to tell the story behind the food.”
Hadeed set out to do just that. She came up with the idea for her podcast, which invites each guest to submit a recipe that is meaningful to him or her. Hadeed makes and photographs the recipe. As she interviews her guests about their chosen recipes, she weaves together the stories of their lives in a powerful way.
Stories From Around the World
Hadeed views her role as a podcaster is to bear witness to the stories of her guests. She also believes in the importance of long-form communication: Her interviews are rarely under an hour.Her very first guest was a good friend of hers who is Ghanian-American. Hadeed reached out to her because she wanted to know more about her experience as an immigrant. “I was curious about her story and I wanted to hear more. She made this dish called kelewewe, a fried plantain dish specific to Ghana.”
Hadeed finds her guests through a variety of channels, including Instagram and a section on her website where people can nominate themselves or others. She’s interviewed people from all over the world, including well-known foodies such as Letitia Clark, food writer and author of “Bitter Honey”; Hermine, a semi-finalist on the Great British Bake-Off; and Andy Anderson, curator of the popular Instagram account Food Fluffer.
But Hadeed said some of her most popular episodes have also included more “ordinary” guests, who end up sharing fascinating stories about their lives.
There was Juan Salazar, who grew up in Guatemala on a coffee farm, and woke up at 2 in the morning every day to travel over a river and up two mountains to school. Eventually, he became an agronomist and returned to his hometown as an entrepreneur. He founded the only coffee cooperative in Guatemala that is backed and led by Guatemalans. Today, Salazar runs La Coop Coffee in Washington D.C.
Cheryl, a food blogger and contestant on The Great American Baking Show, grew up in Portland, Oregon with six siblings and a single mom. She talked about how even in poverty, her mother managed to feed her family amazing food, including a syrup-soaked Kentucky butter cake she shared in her episode.
Yessica left her home country of Venezuela for Holland and searched high and low for the right cornflour to make arepas. She spoke candidly and powerfully about the recent struggles in Venezuela, including food shortages and inflation. In her adopted country, Yessica went from a job at McDonald’s, to graphic design, to culinary school. Now, she is a freelance photographer and still hopes for Venezuela to become again the country she remembers.
Another guest grew up in a Taiwanese pocket of Brazil. When she moved to Taiwan as an adult, there was a sense of coming home, though she had never lived there. She shared a recipe for Taiwanese popcorn chicken with basil, a crisp, juicy staple at night markets.
“There are recipes that go back generations. When people want to reconnect with their past, the first thing they turn to, over and over again, is food,” Hadeed said.
Making, Keeping Deep Connections
The impact of the show has surprised even Hadeed. “When I started this podcast, my idea was very narrow. I thought, ‘Everyone has a grandmother and they all have a good cookie recipe,’” she said.She thought it would be about learning how to cook new recipes. But as reviews started coming in, Hadeed noticed that her listeners were referring to it as a show about culture.
“I realized immediately that of course it was about culture,” said Hadeed. “And then I was really intentional about highlighting that aspect.”
She believes the podcast has gained the traction and popularity it has because the experience of food is so universal. “We can all relate to when that person who loved us made something for us. Food is an area where we can celebrate our diversity,” she said.
Hadeed’s mom was a very good cook—she remembers meals always being delicious. But some of the most poignant food memories from Hadeed’s childhood were from her grandmother, who lived next door.
“She was not a good cook,” said Hadeed, “but she made these stuffed pork chops that were so simple and so delicious.” Her grandmother would pick her up after a hard day at school and make those pork chops for dinner.
“I remember that it was really special, and comforting, to me,” she said.
Hadeed has learned from her podcast about the importance of capturing those special recipes. “The time is now, to preserve these recipes,” Hadeed said. Too often, guests say they can’t share their memorable recipes because the person who made it has passed, and they never learned to make it. “Watch somebody make it, or better yet, take a video,” said Hadeed.
Hadeed and her family make her grandmother’s pork chops two or three times a year. Hadeed has said she’s tried to make it fancier, with herbs and more seasoning, but there is just really nothing like the way her grandmother did it.
The beauty of Hadeed’s show is that it highlights people as relational beings. Food is never just food, and the podcast and accompanying photographs demonstrate that so well. It is so often about the memories, about the people who sacrificed and fed and loved us.
“It is a very rich thing to love somebody,” said Hadeed. “It really does matter.”
Food, she has set out to convey, is a daily miracle—as are the people who make it for us.
