Hip Hop Chef

So it's 8:30am and TT is still asleep (yes, she's sick), and I'm watching... get this -- a cooking show! No, the world is not coming to an end. Yes, I feel okay. But for someone to get me to watch a cooking show, the host has to be interesting, and interesting this host is...

His name is G. Garvin, and he looks like a dark-skinned LL Cool J (ladies, get your minds right!). The name of the show is "Turn Up the Heat w. G. Garvin", and this 'hip hop chef', as I've dubbed him, is known to dress in a crisp button-down (w. sleeves rolled up so he can cook), while rocking a red turned-back baseball cap. Today he's wearing another button up, along w. black jeans and white 'kicks' (a.k.a. sneakers).

He speaks what comes naturally to him: a perfect blend of 'cooking lingo' and hip hop lingo. He refers to himself as 'ya boy' and cracks me up w. his 'know what I mean?' spoken as only true hip hop lovers can. He just said, "We're gonna watch this baby do what it do!" Now when was the last time you heard Emeril or Rachel Ray use this type of language?

G. Garvin is able to talk about the specific spices he uses, different kinds of cheese (Gruyere is the new one I learned, from the Switzerland town where it originated, which I learned from G. Garvin), and prosciutto (the Italian word for ham; I wondered what I was ordering from Wendy's when I ordered the sandwich w. this; I was just going by the picture!).

G. Garvin also takes us on field trips. Today he's at a restaurant in New Orleans, letting a female chef there teach us. One Saturday he took us to a South Side restaurant that also doubles as a famous culinary arts school (Washburne Culinary Arts Institute and Restaurant). This cool place is located in the South Shore Cultural Center, "a Chicago landmark and architectural treasure restored to preserve the original details of many areas" (taken from opentable.com).

Oh, right now G. Garvin has moved us to Cafe Reconcile, a restaurant that is also a training program for at-risk youth, ages 18-21 years old.

Can anybody see the 'hood commitment blended w. the cooking commitment?

So.... Why am I sharing all this? Is it just to let everybody know that part of me is starting to want to learn how to cook? Hecky-naw (to quote my friend D).

I brought this up to give a perfect example of what it is like to "contextualize" something -- in this case, contextualize cooking in a Black urban setting. G. Garvin has found a way to make cooking/culinary arts appealing to a specific group of people. His hip hop nature and love of the 'hood comes through clearly, even as he introduces the audience to high-end dishes.

As the Christian church thinks about what it might look like to be "missional" and to "contextualize" the Gospel, check out G. Garvin!